Related papers: Dynamical Friction From Ultralight Dark Matter
We explore the effect of a supermassive black hole (SMBH) on the density profile of a fuzzy dark matter (FDM) soliton core at the centre of a dark matter halo. We numerically solve the Schr\"odinger-Poisson equations, treating the black…
The dynamical friction force acting on a spatially extended probe (globular clusters and dwarf galaxies) moving in the environment of ultralight bosonic dark matter in the state of the Bose-Einstein condensate is determined. Modeling the…
Light bosonic scalars (e.g. axions) may form clouds around black holes via superradiant instabilities, or via accretion if they form some component of the dark matter. It has been suggested that their presence may lead to a distinctive…
Stability properties of gravitationally bound condensates composed of ultralight axionic Fuzzy Dark Matter (FDM) are studied. Previous work has shown that astrophysical collisions could make self-gravitating condensates structurally…
The orbital decay of massive black holes in galaxies in the aftermath of mergers is at the heart of whether massive black holes successfully pair and merge, leading to emission of low-frequency gravitational waves. The role of dynamical…
It has been postulated that Fuzzy Dark Matter (FDM) could be a viable alternative to Cold Dark Matter (CDM). FDM is comprised of ultralight bosons which exist as a Bose-Einstein condensate. Due to the very low mass of FDM, the de Broglie…
Fuzzy dark matter (FDM) consisting of ultra-light axions has been invoked to alleviate galactic-scale problems in the cold dark matter scenario. FDM fluctuations, created via the superposition of waves, can impact the motion of a central…
The process of momentum and energy transfer between a massive body and a background medium it is moving through is known as dynamical friction (DF). It is key to our understanding of many astrophysical systems. We present a series of…
Astrophysical black holes do not exist in vacuum, and their motion is affected by the galactic environment. As a black hole moves it attracts stars and matter, creating a wake that, in turn, exerts an effective friction slowing down the…
The theory of superfluid dark matter is characterized by self-interacting sub-eV particles that thermalize and condense to form a superfluid core in galaxies. Massive black holes at the center of galaxies, however, modify the dark matter…
Ultralight Dark Matter (ULDM) offers an alternative to cold dark matter, characterized by wavelike behavior on galactic scales. This contribution summarizes our work~\cite{Blas:2024duy} on how solitonic cores induced by ULDM affect…
The era of precision cosmology allows us to test the composition of the dark matter. Mixed ultralight or fuzzy dark matter (FDM) is a cosmological model with dark matter composed of a combination of particles of mass $m\leq…
A supermassive black hole moving through a field of stars will gravitationally scatter the stars, inducing a backreaction force on the black hole known as dynamical friction. In Newtonian gravity, the axisymmetry of the system about the…
Self-gravitating quantum matter may exist in a wide range of cosmological and astrophysical settings from the very early universe through to present-day boson stars. Such quantum matter arises in a number of different theories, including…
Fuzzy dark matter (FDM) is composed of ultra-light bosons having a de Broglie wavelength that is comparable to the size of the stellar component of galaxies at typical galactic velocities. FDM behaves like cold dark matter on large scales.…
An over-dense wake is created by a gravitating object moving through a gaseous medium, and this wake pulls back on the object and slows it down. This is conventional dynamical friction in a gaseous medium. We argue that if the object drives…
Dark matter may be composed of light bosons, ${m_b \sim 10^{-22}\, \mathrm{eV}}$, with a de Broglie wavelength $\lambda \sim 1 \,\mathrm{kpc}$ in typical galactic potentials. Such `fuzzy' dark matter (FDM) behaves like cold dark matter…
UltraLight Dark Matter (ULDM) is an axion-like dark matter candidate with an extremely small particle mass. ULDM halos consist of a spherically symmetric solitonic core and an NFW-like skirt. We simulate halo creation via soliton mergers…
Dark matter may be composed of ultra-light bosons whose de Broglie wavelength in galaxies is of order 1 kpc. The standard model for this fuzzy dark matter (FDM) is a complex scalar field that obeys the Schr\"odinger-Poisson equations. The…
We use observations of ultra-faint dwarf (UFD) galaxies to constrain the particle mass of ultra-light dark matter. Potential fluctuations created by wave interference in virialized "fuzzy" dark matter (FDM) halos dynamically heat stellar…