Empirical Determination of Dark Matter Velocities Using Metal-Poor Stars
The Milky Way dark matter halo is formed from the accretion of smaller subhalos. These sub-units also harbor stars—typically old and metal-poor—that are deposited in the Galactic inner regions by disruption events. In this Letter, we show that the dark matter and metal-poor stars in the Solar neighb...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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American Physical Society
2018
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/114451 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2806-1414 |
| _version_ | 1811071741775052800 |
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| author | Herzog-Arbeitman, Jonah Lisanti, Mariangela Madau, Piero Necib, Lina |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Center for Theoretical Physics |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Center for Theoretical Physics Herzog-Arbeitman, Jonah Lisanti, Mariangela Madau, Piero Necib, Lina |
| author_sort | Herzog-Arbeitman, Jonah |
| collection | MIT |
| description | The Milky Way dark matter halo is formed from the accretion of smaller subhalos. These sub-units also harbor stars—typically old and metal-poor—that are deposited in the Galactic inner regions by disruption events. In this Letter, we show that the dark matter and metal-poor stars in the Solar neighborhood share similar kinematics due to their common origin. Using the high-resolution eris simulation, which traces the evolution of both the dark matter and baryons in a realistic Milky Way analog galaxy, we demonstrate that metal-poor stars are indeed effective tracers for the local, virialized dark matter velocity distribution. The local dark matter velocities can therefore be inferred from observations of the stellar halo made by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey within 4 kpc of the Sun. This empirical distribution differs from the standard halo model in important ways and suggests that the bounds on the spin-independent scattering cross section may be weakened for dark matter masses below ∼10 GeV. Data from Gaia will allow us to further refine the expected distribution for the smooth dark matter component, and to test for the presence of local substructure. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T08:55:36Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/114451 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T08:55:36Z |
| publishDate | 2018 |
| publisher | American Physical Society |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1144512022-09-30T12:12:32Z Empirical Determination of Dark Matter Velocities Using Metal-Poor Stars Herzog-Arbeitman, Jonah Lisanti, Mariangela Madau, Piero Necib, Lina Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Center for Theoretical Physics Necib, Lina The Milky Way dark matter halo is formed from the accretion of smaller subhalos. These sub-units also harbor stars—typically old and metal-poor—that are deposited in the Galactic inner regions by disruption events. In this Letter, we show that the dark matter and metal-poor stars in the Solar neighborhood share similar kinematics due to their common origin. Using the high-resolution eris simulation, which traces the evolution of both the dark matter and baryons in a realistic Milky Way analog galaxy, we demonstrate that metal-poor stars are indeed effective tracers for the local, virialized dark matter velocity distribution. The local dark matter velocities can therefore be inferred from observations of the stellar halo made by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey within 4 kpc of the Sun. This empirical distribution differs from the standard halo model in important ways and suggests that the bounds on the spin-independent scattering cross section may be weakened for dark matter masses below ∼10 GeV. Data from Gaia will allow us to further refine the expected distribution for the smooth dark matter component, and to test for the presence of local substructure. United States. Department of Energy (Contract DESC00012567) 2018-03-29T17:58:25Z 2018-03-29T17:58:25Z 2018-01 2017-09 2018-02-07T20:54:56Z Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 0031-9007 1079-7114 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/114451 Herzog-Arbeitman, Jonah et al. "Empirical Determination of Dark Matter Velocities Using Metal-Poor Stars." Physical Review Letters 120, 4 (January 2018): 041102 © 2018 American Physical Society https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2806-1414 en http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.120.041102 Physical Review Letters Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use. American Physical Society application/pdf American Physical Society American Physical Society |
| spellingShingle | Herzog-Arbeitman, Jonah Lisanti, Mariangela Madau, Piero Necib, Lina Empirical Determination of Dark Matter Velocities Using Metal-Poor Stars |
| title | Empirical Determination of Dark Matter Velocities Using Metal-Poor Stars |
| title_full | Empirical Determination of Dark Matter Velocities Using Metal-Poor Stars |
| title_fullStr | Empirical Determination of Dark Matter Velocities Using Metal-Poor Stars |
| title_full_unstemmed | Empirical Determination of Dark Matter Velocities Using Metal-Poor Stars |
| title_short | Empirical Determination of Dark Matter Velocities Using Metal-Poor Stars |
| title_sort | empirical determination of dark matter velocities using metal poor stars |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/114451 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2806-1414 |
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