The Compression of Dark Matter Halos by Baryonic Infall

The initial radial density profiles of dark matter halos are laid down by gravitational collapse in hierarchical structure formation scenarios and are subject to further compression as baryons cool and settle to the halo centers. Here we describe an explicit implementation of the algorithm, original...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe Astrophysical journal Vol. 634; no. 1; pp. 70 - 76
Main Authors Sellwood, J. A, McGaugh, Stacy S
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Chicago, IL IOP Publishing 20.11.2005
University of Chicago Press
Subjects
Astronomy
Earth, ocean, space
Exact sciences and technology
Galaxy halo
galaxies: formation
Galaxies
Dark matter
Dynamics
Galaxy formation
Kinematics
galaxies: kinematics and dynamics
galaxies: halos
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Summary:The initial radial density profiles of dark matter halos are laid down by gravitational collapse in hierarchical structure formation scenarios and are subject to further compression as baryons cool and settle to the halo centers. Here we describe an explicit implementation of the algorithm, originally developed by Young, to calculate changes to the density profile as the result of adiabatic infall in a spherical halo model. Halos with random motion are more resistant to compression than are those in which random motions are neglected, which is a key weakness of the simple method widely employed. Young's algorithm results in density profiles in excellent agreement with those from N-body simulations. We show how the algorithm can be applied to determine the original uncompressed halos of real galaxies, a step that must be computed with care in order to enable a confrontation with theoretical predictions from theories such as CDM.
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ISSN:0004-637X
1538-4357
DOI:10.1086/491731