Related papers: The Mismeasure of Mergers: Revised Limits on Self-…
We perform numerical simulations of the merging galaxy cluster 1E 0657-56 (the Bullet Cluster), including the effects of elastic dark matter scattering. In a similar manner to the stripping of gas by ram pressure, dark matter…
We suggest that two-to-two dark matter fusion may be the relaxation process that resolves the small-scale structure problems of the cold collisionless dark matter paradigm. In order for the fusion cross section to scale correctly across…
The observed surface densities of dark matter halos are known to follow a simple scaling law, ranging from dwarf galaxies to galaxy clusters, with a weak dependence on their virial mass. Here we point out that this can not only be used to…
Self-interaction of particulate dark matter may help thermalising the central region of the galactic halo and driving core formation. The core radius is expectedly sensitive to the self-interaction strength of dark matter (DM). In this…
In collisions of galaxy clusters, the lack of displacement between dark matter and galaxies suggests that the dark matter scattering depth is small. This yields an upper limit on the dark matter cross section if the dark matter column…
If dark matter has a non-zero self-interaction cross-section, then dark matter halos of individual galaxies in cluster cores should experience a drag force from the ambient dark matter of the cluster, which will not affect the stellar…
We characterise the typical offset between the Dark Matter (DM) projected centre and the Brightest Cluster Galaxy (BCG) in 10,000 SDSS clusters. To place constraints on the centre of DM, we use an automated strong-lensing analysis,…
Evidence for dark matter self-interactions has recently been reported based on the observation of a spatial offset between the dark matter halo and the stars in a galaxy in the cluster Abell 3827. Interpreting the offset as due to dark…
Direct detection experiments aimed at uncovering the elusive nature of dark matter (DM) have made significant progress in probing ever lower cross-sections for DM-nucleon interactions. At the same time, an upper limit in the cross-section…
We have developed a machine learning algorithm capable of detecting ``out-of-domain data'' for trustworthy cosmological inference. By using data from two separate suites of cosmological simulations, we show that our algorithm is able to…
Galaxy clusters, employed by Zwicky to demonstrate the existence of dark matter, pose new stringent tests. If merging clusters demonstrate that dark matter is self-interacting with cross section $\sigma/m\sim 2$ cm$^2$/gr, MACHOs,…
Spergel & Steinhardt proposed the possibility that the dark matter particles are self-interacting, as a solution to two discrepancies between the predictions of cold dark matter models and the observations: first, the observed dark matter…
Dark matter self-interactions have important implications for the distributions of dark matter in the Universe, from dwarf galaxies to galaxy clusters. We present benchmark models that illustrate characteristic features of dark matter that…
Self-interacting dark matter (SIDM) is an able alternative to collisionless dark matter. If dark matter does have self-interactions, we would expect this to cause a separation between the collisionless stars and the dark matter halo of a…
Self-interacting dark matter (SIDM) has been proposed as an alternative to the standard collisionless cold dark matter to explain the diversity of galactic rotation curves and core-cusp problems seen at small scales. Here, we estimate the…
Self-interacting dark matter may have striking astrophysical signatures, such as observable offsets between galaxies and dark matter in merging galaxy clusters. Numerical N-body simulations used to predict such observables typically treat…
We perform a general computational analysis of possible post-collision mass distributions in high-speed galaxy cluster collisions in the presence of weakly self-interacting dark matter. Using this analysis, we show that weakly…
We review recent findings from a detailed simulation study of the merging cluster El Gordo and present new results inferred from weak lensing data. We found that the observed spatial offsets between the different mass components are well…
Self-Interacting Dark Matter is an attractive alternative to the Cold Dark Matter paradigm only if it is able to substantially reduce the central densities of dwarf-size haloes while keeping the densities and shapes of cluster-size haloes…
We constrain the physical nature of dark matter using the newly identified massive merging galaxy cluster MACSJ0025.4-1222. As was previously shown by the example of the Bullet Cluster (1E0657-56), such systems are ideal laboratories for…