We use N-body simulations of dark matter haloes in cold dark matter (CDM) and a large set of different warm dark matter (WDM) cosmologies to demonstrate that the spherically averaged density profile of dark matter haloes has a shape that depends on t
he power spectrum of matter perturbations. Density profiles are steeper in WDM but become shallower at scales less than one percent of the virial radius. Virialization isotropizes the velocity dispersion in the inner regions of the halo but does not erase the memory of the initial conditions in phase space. The location of the observed deviations from CDM in the density profile and in phase space can be directly related to the ratio between the halo mass and the filtering mass and are most evident in small mass haloes, even for a 34 keV thermal relic WDM. The rearrangement of mass within the haloes supports analytic models of halo structure that include angular momentum. We also find evidence of a dependence of the slope of the inner density profile in CDM cosmologies on the halo mass with more massive haloes exhibiting steeper profiles, in agreement with the model predictions and with previous simulation results. Our work complements recent studies of microhaloes near the filtering scale in CDM and strongly argue against a universal shape for the density profile.
We investigate the claim that the largest subhaloes in high resolution dissipationless cold dark matter (CDM) simulations of the Milky Way are dynamically inconsistent with observations of its most luminous satellites. We find that the inconsistency
is largely attributable to the large values of sigma_8 and n_s adopted in the discrepant simulations producing satellites that form too early and therefore are too dense. We find the tension between observations and simulations adopting parameters consistent with WMAP9 is greatly diminished making the satellites a sensitive test of CDM. We find the Via Lactea II halo to be atypical for haloes in a WMAP3 cosmology, a discrepancy that we attribute to its earlier formation epoch than the mean for its mass. We also explore warm dark matter (WDM) cosmologies for 1--4 keV thermal relics. In 1 keV cosmologies subhaloes have circular velocities at kpc scales ~ 60% lower than their CDM counterparts, but are reduced by only 10% in 4 keV cosmologies. Since relic masses < 2-3 keV are ruled out by constraints from the number of Milky Way satellites and Lyman-alpha forest, WDM has a minor effect in reducing the densities of massive satellites. Given the uncertainties on the mass and formation epoch of the Milky Way, the need for reducing the satellite densities with baryonic effects or WDM is alleviated.
We propose the existence of ultracompact minihalos as a new type of massive compact halo object (MACHO) and suggest an observational test to discover them. These new MACHOs are a powerful probe into the nature of dark matter and physics in the high e
nergy Universe. Non-Gaussian energy-density fluctuations produced at phase transitions (e.g., QCD) or by features in the inflaton potential can trigger primordial black hole (PBH) formation if their amplitudes are delta > 30%. We show that a PBH accumulates over time a sufficiently massive and compact minihalo to be able to modify or dominate its microlensing magnification light curve. Perturbations of amplitude 0.03% < delta < 30% are too small to form PBHs, but can nonetheless seed the growth of ultracompact minihalos. Thus, the likelihood of ultracompact minihalos as MACHOs is greater than that of PBHs. In addition, depending on their mass, they may be sites of formation of the first PopIII stars. Ultracompact minihalos and PBHs produce a microlensing light curve that can be distinguished from that of a point-like object if high-quality photometric data are taken for a sufficiently long time after the peak of the magnification event. This enables them to be detected below the stellar-lensing background toward both the Magellanic Clouds and the Galactic bulge.
