How supernova feedback turns dark matter cusps into cores

By Andrew Pontzen, Fabio Governato Kavli Institute for Cosmology, Cambridge, U. Washington, Seattle. 2011

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We propose and successfully test against new cosmological simulations a novel analytical description of the physical processes associated with the origin of cored dark matter density profiles. In the simulations, the potential in the central kiloparsec changes on sub-dynamical time-scales over the redshift interval 4 > z > 2, as repeated, energetic feedback generates large underdense bubbles of expanding gas from centrally concentrated bursts of star formation. The model demonstrates how fluctuations in the central potential irreversibly transfer energy into collisionless particles, thus generating a dark matter core. A supply of gas undergoing collapse and rapid expansion is therefore the essential ingredient. The framework, based on a novel impulsive approximation, breaks with the reliance on adiabatic approximations which are inappropriate in the rapidly changing limit. It shows that both outflows and galactic fountains can give rise to cusp flattening, even when only a few per cent of the baryons form stars. Dwarf galaxies maintain their core to the present time. The model suggests that constant density dark matter cores will be generated in systems of a wide mass range if central starbursts or active galactic nucleus phases are sufficiently frequent and energetic.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Instrumentation, Nuclear and High Energy Physics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/df148c021447196bbab3aa642739e545a606e058

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Citations in the corpus

THE CIRCUMGALACTIC MEDIUM OF MASSIVE GALAXIES AT z ∼ 3: A TEST FOR STELLAR FEEDBACK, GALACTIC OUTFLOWS, AND COLD STREAMS (2012, background): “…large-scale galactic outflows and be key in producing realistic dwarf galaxies and late-type massive spirals (e.g. Governato et al. 2010; Guedes et al. 2011), in turning dark matter cusps into cores (e.g. Pontzen & Governato 2012), and in enriching the CGM of high redshift LBGs (Shen et al. 2012).”
A facility to search for hidden particles at the CERN SPS: the SHiP physics case (2015, background): “A variety of mechanisms have been proposed to generate cores in DM halos through gravitational feedback from baryons, including supernovae in gas-rich dwarfs [143, 144], environmental interactions between satellite galaxies and the baryonic disk of the larger host galaxy [145], and active galactic n”
The impact of baryonic physics on the structure of dark matter haloes: the view from the FIRE cosmological simulations (2015, background): “Pontzen & Governato (2012) further clarified this density flattening mechanism: a quick change in gravitational potential due to gas outflow can effectively inject energy into dark matter orbits and (typically after many outflow episodes) flatten the central dark matter profile.”
Numerical simulations of the dark universe: State of the art and the next decade (2012, background): “of dense stellar clumps against the smooth background DM halo [366, 373, 386, 387], and repeated and violent oscillations in the central potential due to energy injection from active galactic nuclei [388] or supernova-driven galactic outflows [389–392].”
The Milky Way’s stellar disk (2013, background): “In galaxies as massive as our Milky Way, baryonic processes could not easily turn the dark matter cusp into a core, as seems viable in low mass galaxies (e.g., Flores & Primack 1993; Pontzen & Governato 2012).”
Cusp-core transformations in dwarf galaxies: observational predictions (2012, background): “Since stars behave as collisionless particles, like dark matter, they should be heated by the irreversible process proposed by Read & Gilmore (2005), Mashchenko et al. (2006) and Pontzen & Governato (2012).”
Subhaloes going Notts: the subhalo‐finder comparison project (2012, background): “Oh et al. 2011; Pontzen & Governato 2011).”
A BARYONIC SOLUTION TO THE MISSING SATELLITES PROBLEM (2012, background): “…Mashchenko et al. 2006, 2008; Governato et al. 2010; Pasetto et al. 2010; de Souza et al. 2011; Cloet-Osselaer et al. 2012; Macciò et al. 2012; Pontzen & Governato 2012; Governato et al. 2012; Teyssier et al. 2012) the profile depending on the mass of the halo in question, and on the…”
Is there a "too big to fail" problem in the field? (2014, background): “…shown that repeated gas-blowout episodes, drivenby bursty star-formation activity, can create a “cored” central DM profile in halos hosting dwarf galaxies (Governato et al. 2012; Pontzen & Governato 2012, but see also Del Popolo et al. 2014 for a different mechanism based on dynamical friction).”
Powerful Outflows and Feedback from Active Galactic Nuclei (2015, background): “Because the baryonic mass involved is much larger, this is a more powerful version of the mechanism invoked by Pontzen & Governato (2012) (see also Garrison–Kimmel et al. 2013), who considered supernovae near the SMBH. 3.”
Small scale problems of the $\Lambda$CDM model: a short review (2016, methodology): “According to [196], the cores formed in [296] are fundamentally related to an ad hoc choice of parameters, while in their own simulations had no evidence of core formation.”
HALO EXPANSION IN COSMOLOGICAL HYDRO SIMULATIONS: TOWARD A BARYONIC SOLUTION OF THE CUSP/CORE PROBLEM IN MASSIVE SPIRALS (2011, methodology): “The creation of a core in the dark matter distribution has previously been attributed to rapid variations on the potential due to the bulk motion of gas clouds (Mashchenko et al. 2008, Pontzen & Governato 2011).”
The formation of disc galaxies in high-resolution moving-mesh cosmological simulations (2013, background): “Several studies have argued that baryonic effects can induce through this process dark matter cores in dwarf galaxies (Governato et al. 2010; Pontzen & Governato 2012; Governato et al. 2012), or even in large Milky Way size haloes or galaxy clusters (Macciò et al. 2012; Martizzi et al. 2012).”
The DiskMass Survey VII. The distribution of luminous and dark matter in spiral galaxies (2013, background): “…several processes may occur that could also expand the halo, such as dynamical friction between the halo and infalling galaxies (e.g., El-Zant et al. 2001), or mass outflows from central starbursts and active galactic nuclei (Read & Gilmore 2005; Governato et al. 2012; Pontzen & Governato 2012).”
The masses and density profiles of halos in a LCDM galaxy formation simulation (2014, methodology): “…some cases, different techniques for solving the hydrodynamical equations (e.g. Navarro et al. 1996a; Read & Gilmore 2005; Mashchenko et al. 2006; Pontzen & Governato 2012; Martizzi et al. 2013; Teyssier et al. 2013; Arraki et al. 2014; Pontzen & Governato 2014; Murante et al. 2015; Oñorbe et…”
Cuspy No More: How Outflows Affect the Central Dark Matter and Baryon Distribution in Lambda CDM Galaxies (2012, background): “As discussed in Pontzen & Governato (2011) a bursty SF is necessary to create the fast outflows able to transfer energy to the DM component.”
Galactic accretion and the outer structure of galaxies in the CDM model (2013, methodology): “…two limitations mean that, in the N-body part of our model, we cannot include the formation and secular evolution of discs, adiabatic contraction or the destruction of cusps in dark haloes by feedback (Navarro, Eke & Frenk 1996; Gnedin et al. 2004; Dutton et al. 2007; Pontzen & Governato 2012).”
AGN-driven quenching of star formation: morphological and dynamical implications for early-type galaxies (2013, background): “…and can smooth the density profiles of both stars and DM in the most central parts (Mashchenko, Couchman & Wadsley 2006; Peirani, Kay & Silk 2008; Pontzen & Governato 2012; Teyssier et al. 2013), in conjunction with the adiabatic expansion of DM and stars (Blumenthal et al. 1986; Gnedin & Zhao…”