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Title: Dwarf galaxy dark matter density profiles inferred from stellar and gas kinematics

Abstract

We present new constraints on the density profiles of dark matter (DM) halos in seven nearby dwarf galaxies from measurements of their integrated stellar light and gas kinematics. The gas kinematics of low-mass galaxies frequently suggest that they contain constant density DM cores, while N-body simulations instead predict a cuspy profile. We present a data set of high-resolution integral-field spectroscopy on seven galaxies and measure the stellar and gas kinematics simultaneously. Using Jeans modeling on our full sample, we examine whether gas kinematics in general produce shallower density profiles than are derived from the stars. Although two of the seven galaxies show some localized differences in their rotation curves between the two tracers, estimates of the central logarithmic slope of the DM density profile, γ, are generally robust. The mean and standard deviation of the logarithmic slope for the population are γ = 0.67 ± 0.10 when measured in the stars and γ = 0.58 ± 0.24 when measured in the gas. We also find that the halos are not under-concentrated at the radii of half their maximum velocities. Finally, we search for correlations of the DM density profile with stellar velocity anisotropy and other baryonic properties. Two popular mechanismsmore » to explain cored DM halos are an exotic DM component or feedback models that strongly couple the energy of supernovae into repeatedly driving out gas and dynamically heating the DM halos. While such models do not yet have falsifiable predictions that we can measure, we investigate correlations that may eventually be used to test models. We do not find a secondary parameter that strongly correlates with the central DM density slope, but we do find some weak correlations. The central DM density slope weakly correlates with the abundance of α elements in the stellar population, anti-correlates with H I fraction, and anti-correlates with vertical orbital anisotropy. We expect, if anything, the opposite of these three trends for feedback models. Determining the importance of these correlations will require further model developments and larger observational samples.« less

Authors:
;  [1]; ; ;  [2];  [3]; ; ;  [4];  [5]
  1. Observatories of the Carnegie Institution of Science, 813 Santa Barbara Street, Pasadena, CA 91101 (United States)
  2. Max-Planck Institut für extraterrestrische Physik, Giessenbachstraße, D-85741 Garching bei München (Germany)
  3. Max-Planck Institut für Astronomie, Königstuhl 17, D-69117 Heidelberg (Germany)
  4. Department of Astronomy, University of Texas at Austin, 2515 Speedway, Stop C1400, Austin, TX 78712-1205 (United States)
  5. Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University, 4 Ivy Lane, Peyton Hall, Princeton, NJ 08544 (United States)
Publication Date:
OSTI Identifier:
22356473
Resource Type:
Journal Article
Journal Name:
Astrophysical Journal
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 789; Journal Issue: 1; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); Journal ID: ISSN 0004-637X
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
79 ASTROPHYSICS, COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY; ABUNDANCE; ANISOTROPY; CORRELATIONS; DENSITY; DWARF STARS; FEEDBACK; FORECASTING; GALAXIES; MASS; NONLUMINOUS MATTER; RESOLUTION; ROTATION; SIMULATION; SPECTROSCOPY; SUPERNOVAE; VELOCITY; VISIBLE RADIATION

Citation Formats

Adams, Joshua J., Simon, Joshua D., Fabricius, Maximilian H., Bender, Ralf, Thomas, Jens, Van den Bosch, Remco C. E., Van de Ven, Glenn, Barentine, John C., Gebhardt, Karl, Hill, Gary J., Murphy, Jeremy D., and Swaters, R. A., E-mail: jjadams@obs.carnegiescience.edu, E-mail: jja439@gmail.com. Dwarf galaxy dark matter density profiles inferred from stellar and gas kinematics. United States: N. p., 2014. Web. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/789/1/63.
Adams, Joshua J., Simon, Joshua D., Fabricius, Maximilian H., Bender, Ralf, Thomas, Jens, Van den Bosch, Remco C. E., Van de Ven, Glenn, Barentine, John C., Gebhardt, Karl, Hill, Gary J., Murphy, Jeremy D., & Swaters, R. A., E-mail: jjadams@obs.carnegiescience.edu, E-mail: jja439@gmail.com. Dwarf galaxy dark matter density profiles inferred from stellar and gas kinematics. United States. https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/789/1/63
Adams, Joshua J., Simon, Joshua D., Fabricius, Maximilian H., Bender, Ralf, Thomas, Jens, Van den Bosch, Remco C. E., Van de Ven, Glenn, Barentine, John C., Gebhardt, Karl, Hill, Gary J., Murphy, Jeremy D., and Swaters, R. A., E-mail: jjadams@obs.carnegiescience.edu, E-mail: jja439@gmail.com. 2014. "Dwarf galaxy dark matter density profiles inferred from stellar and gas kinematics". United States. https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/789/1/63.
@article{osti_22356473,
title = {Dwarf galaxy dark matter density profiles inferred from stellar and gas kinematics},
author = {Adams, Joshua J. and Simon, Joshua D. and Fabricius, Maximilian H. and Bender, Ralf and Thomas, Jens and Van den Bosch, Remco C. E. and Van de Ven, Glenn and Barentine, John C. and Gebhardt, Karl and Hill, Gary J. and Murphy, Jeremy D. and Swaters, R. A., E-mail: jjadams@obs.carnegiescience.edu, E-mail: jja439@gmail.com},
abstractNote = {We present new constraints on the density profiles of dark matter (DM) halos in seven nearby dwarf galaxies from measurements of their integrated stellar light and gas kinematics. The gas kinematics of low-mass galaxies frequently suggest that they contain constant density DM cores, while N-body simulations instead predict a cuspy profile. We present a data set of high-resolution integral-field spectroscopy on seven galaxies and measure the stellar and gas kinematics simultaneously. Using Jeans modeling on our full sample, we examine whether gas kinematics in general produce shallower density profiles than are derived from the stars. Although two of the seven galaxies show some localized differences in their rotation curves between the two tracers, estimates of the central logarithmic slope of the DM density profile, γ, are generally robust. The mean and standard deviation of the logarithmic slope for the population are γ = 0.67 ± 0.10 when measured in the stars and γ = 0.58 ± 0.24 when measured in the gas. We also find that the halos are not under-concentrated at the radii of half their maximum velocities. Finally, we search for correlations of the DM density profile with stellar velocity anisotropy and other baryonic properties. Two popular mechanisms to explain cored DM halos are an exotic DM component or feedback models that strongly couple the energy of supernovae into repeatedly driving out gas and dynamically heating the DM halos. While such models do not yet have falsifiable predictions that we can measure, we investigate correlations that may eventually be used to test models. We do not find a secondary parameter that strongly correlates with the central DM density slope, but we do find some weak correlations. The central DM density slope weakly correlates with the abundance of α elements in the stellar population, anti-correlates with H I fraction, and anti-correlates with vertical orbital anisotropy. We expect, if anything, the opposite of these three trends for feedback models. Determining the importance of these correlations will require further model developments and larger observational samples.},
doi = {10.1088/0004-637X/789/1/63},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/22356473}, journal = {Astrophysical Journal},
issn = {0004-637X},
number = 1,
volume = 789,
place = {United States},
year = {Tue Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 2014},
month = {Tue Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 2014}
}