Work

The Robustness of Dark Matter Density Profiles in Dissipationless Mergers

Year: 2006

Type: article

Abstract: We present a comprehensive series of dissipationless N -body simulations to investigate the evolution of density distribution in equal-mass mergers between dark matter (DM) halos and multicomponent galaxies. The DM halo models are constructed with various asymptotic power-law indices ranging from steep cusps to corelike profiles and the structural properties of the galaxy models are motivated by the ΛCDM paradigm of structure formation. The adopted force resolution allows robust density profile estimates in the inner ~1% of the virial radii of the simulated systems. We demonstrate that the central slopes and overall shapes of the remnant density profiles are virtually identical to those of the initial systems, suggesting that the remnants retain a remarkable memory of the density structure of their progenitors, despite the relaxation that accompanies merger activity. We also find that halo concentrations remain approximately constant through hierarchical merging involving identical systems and show that remnants contain significant fractions of their bound mass well beyond their formal virial radii. These conclusions hold for a wide variety of initial asymptotic density slopes, orbital energies, and encounter configurations, including sequences of consecutive merger events, simultaneous mergers of several systems, and mergers of halos with embedded cold baryonic components in the form of disks, spheroids, or both. As an immediate consequence, the net effect of gas cooling, which contracts and steepens the inner density profiles of DM halos, should be preserved through a period of dissipationless major merging. Our results imply that the characteristic universal shape of DM density profiles may be set early in the evolution of halos.

Source: The Astrophysical Journal

DOI: 10.1086/500579

Authors: Stelios Kazantzidis, Andrew R. Zentner, Andrey V. Kravtsov

Institution: University of Chicago

Language: English

Topic: Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena

Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics

Field: Physics and Astronomy

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: bronze