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Statistical mechanics of collisionless orbits. I. Origin of central cusps in dark-matter halos

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 Added by Jens Hjorth
 Publication date 2010
  fields Physics
and research's language is English




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We present an equilibrium statistical mechanical theory of collisionless self-gravitational systems with isotropic velocity distributions. Compared to existing standard theories, we introduce two changes: (1) the number of possible microstates is computed in energy (orbit) space rather than phase space and (2) low occupation numbers are treated more appropriately than using Stirlings approximation. Combined, the two modifications predict that the relaxed parts of collisionless self-gravitating systems, such as dark-matter halos, have a differential energy distribution N(E) ~ [exp(phi_0 - E) - 1], dubbed DARKexp. Such systems have central power-law density cusps rho(r) ~ r^-1, which suggests a statistical mechanical origin of cusps in simulated dark-matter halos.



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Dark-matter halos grown in cosmological simulations appear to have central NFW-like density cusps with mean values of $dlogrho/dlog r approx -1$, and some dispersion, which is generally parametrized by the varying index $alpha$ in the Einasto density profile fitting function. Non-universality in profile shapes is also seen in observed galaxy clusters and possibly dwarf galaxies. Here we show that non-universality, at any given mass scale, is an intrinsic property of DARKexp, a theoretically derived model for collisionless self-gravitating systems. We demonstrate that DARKexp - which has only one shape parameter, $phi_0$ - fits the dispersion in profile shapes of massive simulated halos as well as observed clusters very well. DARKexp also allows for cored dark-matter profiles, such as those found for dwarf spheroidal galaxies. We provide approximate analytical relations between DARKexp $phi_0$, Einasto $alpha$, or the central logarithmic slope in the Dehnen-Tremaine analytical $gamma$-models. The range in halo parameters reflects a substantial variation in the binding energies per unit mass of dark-matter halos.
It has been shown in previous work that DARKexp, which is a theoretically derived, maximum entropy, one shape parameter model for isotropic collisionless systems, provides very good fits to simulated and observed dark-matter halos. Specifically, it fits the energy distribution, N(E), and the density profiles, including the central cusp. Here, we extend DARKexp N(E) to include the distribution in angular momentum, L^2, for spherically symmetric systems. First, we argue, based on theoretical, semi-analytical, and simulation results, that while dark-matter halos are relaxed in energy, they are not nearly as relaxed in angular momentum, which precludes using maximum entropy to uniquely derive N(E,L^2). Instead, we require that when integrating N(E,L^2) over squared angular momenta one retrieves the DARKexp N(E). Starting with a general expression for N(E,L^2) we show how the distribution of particles in L^2 is related to the shape of the velocity distribution function, VDF, and velocity anisotropy profile, beta(r). We then demonstrate that astrophysically realistic halos, as judged by the VDF shape and beta(r), must have linear or convex distributions in L^2, for each separate energy bin. The distribution in energy of the most bound particles must be nearly flat, and become more tilted in favor of radial orbits for less bound particles. These results are consistent with numerical simulations and represent an important step towards deriving the full distribution function for spherically symmetric dark-matter halos.
Using the self-consistent modeling of the conditional stellar mass functions across cosmic time by Yang et al. (2012), we make model predictions for the star formation histories (SFHs) of {it central} galaxies in halos of different masses. The model requires the following two key ingredients: (i) mass assembly histories of central and satellite galaxies, and (ii) local observational constraints of the star formation rates of central galaxies as function of halo mass. We obtain a universal fitting formula that describes the (median) SFH of central galaxies as function of halo mass, galaxy stellar mass and redshift. We use this model to make predictions for various aspects of the star formation rates of central galaxies across cosmic time. Our main findings are the following. (1) The specific star formation rate (SSFR) at high $z$ increases rapidly with increasing redshift [$propto (1+z)^{2.5}$] for halos of a given mass and only slowly with halo mass ($propto M_h^{0.12}$) at a given $z$, in almost perfect agreement with the specific mass accretion rate of dark matter halos. (2) The ratio between the star formation rate (SFR) in the main-branch progenitor and the final stellar mass of a galaxy peaks roughly at a constant value, $sim 10^{-9.3} h^2 {rm yr}^{-1}$, independent of halo mass or the final stellar mass of the galaxy. However, the redshift at which the SFR peaks increases rapidly with halo mass. (3) More than half of the stars in the present-day Universe were formed in halos with $10^{11.1}msunh < M_h < 10^{12.3}msunh$ in the redshift range $0.4 < z < 1.9$. (4) ... [abridged]
We present the results of the Cosmogrid cosmological N-body simulation suites based on the concordance LCDM model. The Cosmogrid simulation was performed in a 30Mpc box with 2048^3 particles. The mass of each particle is 1.28x10^5 Msun, which is sufficient to resolve ultra-faint dwarfs. We found that the halo mass function shows good agreement with the Sheth & Tormen fitting function down to ~10^7 Msun. We have analyzed the spherically averaged density profiles of the three most massive halos which are of galaxy group size and contain at least 170 million particles. The slopes of these density profiles become shallower than -1 at the inner most radius. We also find a clear correlation of halo concentration with mass. The mass dependence of the concentration parameter cannot be expressed by a single power law, however a simple model based on the Press-Schechter theory proposed by Navarro et al. gives reasonable agreement with this dependence. The spin parameter does not show a correlation with the halo mass. The probability distribution functions for both concentration and spin are well fitted by the log-normal distribution for halos with the masses larger than ~10^8 Msun. The subhalo abundance depends on the halo mass. Galaxy-sized halos have 50% more subhalos than ~10^{11} Msun halos have.
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