Axion structure formation – II. The wrath of collapse

Journal Article · 08 March 2020 · Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/staa557 · OSTI ID:1607601

Lentz, Erik W. ^[1]; Quinn, Thomas R. ^[2]; Rosenberg, Leslie J. ^[3]

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1. Institut für Astrophysik, Georg-August Universität Göttingen, Göttingen, D-Deutschland 37707, Germany, Department of Physics, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195-1560, USA
2. Department of Astronomy, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195-1580, USA
3. Department of Physics, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195-1560, USA

ABSTRACT The first paper in this series showed that quantum chromodynamic axion dark matter, as a highly correlated Bose fluid, contains extra-classical physics on cosmological scales. The source of the derived extra-classical physics is exchange–correlation interactions induced by the constraints of symmetric particle exchange and interaxion correlations from self-gravitation. The paper also showed that the impact of extra-classical physics on early structure formation is marginal, as the exchange–correlation interaction is inherently non-linear. This paper continues the study of axion structure formation into the non-linear regime, considering the case of full collapse and virialization. The N-body method is chosen to study the collapse, and its algorithms are derived for a condensed Bose fluid. Simulations of isolated gravitational collapse are performed for both Bose and cold dark matter fluids using a prototype N-body code. Unique Bose structures are found to survive even the most violent collapses. Bose post-collapse features include dynamical changes to global structures, creation of new broad sub-structures, violations of classical binding energy conditions, and new fine structures. Effective models of the novel structures are constructed and possibilities for their observation are discussed.

• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• Grant/Contract Number: NONE; SC0011665
• OSTI ID: 1607601
• Alternate ID(s): OSTI ID: 1802236
• Journal Information: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Journal Name: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Journal Issue: 4 Vol. 493; ISSN 0035-8711
• Publisher: Oxford University PressCopyright Statement
• Country of Publication: United Kingdom
• Language: English