Stellar Wakes from Dark Matter Subhalos
We propose a novel method utilizing stellar kinematic data to detect low-mass substructure in the Milky Way’s dark matter halo. By probing characteristic wakes that a passing dark matter subhalo leaves in the phase-space distribution of ambient halo stars, we estimate sensitivities down to subhalo m...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
American Physical Society
2018
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/115915 |
| _version_ | 1811083499465080832 |
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| author | Buschmann, Malte Kopp, Joachim Safdi, Benjamin R. Wu, Chih-Liang |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Center for Theoretical Physics |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Center for Theoretical Physics Buschmann, Malte Kopp, Joachim Safdi, Benjamin R. Wu, Chih-Liang |
| author_sort | Buschmann, Malte |
| collection | MIT |
| description | We propose a novel method utilizing stellar kinematic data to detect low-mass substructure in the Milky Way’s dark matter halo. By probing characteristic wakes that a passing dark matter subhalo leaves in the phase-space distribution of ambient halo stars, we estimate sensitivities down to subhalo masses of ∼10[superscript 7] M[subscript ⊙] or below. The detection of such subhalos would have implications for dark matter and cosmological models that predict modifications to the halo-mass function at low halo masses. We develop an analytic formalism for describing the perturbed stellar phase-space distributions, and we demonstrate through idealized simulations the ability to detect subhalos using the phase-space model and a likelihood framework. Our method complements existing methods for low-mass subhalo searches, such as searches for gaps in stellar streams, in that we can localize the positions and velocities of the subhalos today. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T12:34:02Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/115915 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T12:34:02Z |
| publishDate | 2018 |
| publisher | American Physical Society |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1159152022-09-28T08:39:48Z Stellar Wakes from Dark Matter Subhalos Buschmann, Malte Kopp, Joachim Safdi, Benjamin R. Wu, Chih-Liang Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Center for Theoretical Physics Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics Wu, Chih-Liang We propose a novel method utilizing stellar kinematic data to detect low-mass substructure in the Milky Way’s dark matter halo. By probing characteristic wakes that a passing dark matter subhalo leaves in the phase-space distribution of ambient halo stars, we estimate sensitivities down to subhalo masses of ∼10[superscript 7] M[subscript ⊙] or below. The detection of such subhalos would have implications for dark matter and cosmological models that predict modifications to the halo-mass function at low halo masses. We develop an analytic formalism for describing the perturbed stellar phase-space distributions, and we demonstrate through idealized simulations the ability to detect subhalos using the phase-space model and a likelihood framework. Our method complements existing methods for low-mass subhalo searches, such as searches for gaps in stellar streams, in that we can localize the positions and velocities of the subhalos today. 2018-05-25T19:48:00Z 2018-05-25T19:48:00Z 2018-05 2018-04 2018-05-25T18:00:18Z Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 0031-9007 1079-7114 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/115915 Buschmann, Malte et al. "Stellar Wakes from Dark Matter Subhalos." Physical Review Letters 120, 21 (May 2018): 211101 © 2018 American Physical Society en http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.120.211101 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 | Buschmann, Malte Kopp, Joachim Safdi, Benjamin R. Wu, Chih-Liang Stellar Wakes from Dark Matter Subhalos |
| title | Stellar Wakes from Dark Matter Subhalos |
| title_full | Stellar Wakes from Dark Matter Subhalos |
| title_fullStr | Stellar Wakes from Dark Matter Subhalos |
| title_full_unstemmed | Stellar Wakes from Dark Matter Subhalos |
| title_short | Stellar Wakes from Dark Matter Subhalos |
| title_sort | stellar wakes from dark matter subhalos |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/115915 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT buschmannmalte stellarwakesfromdarkmattersubhalos AT koppjoachim stellarwakesfromdarkmattersubhalos AT safdibenjaminr stellarwakesfromdarkmattersubhalos AT wuchihliang stellarwakesfromdarkmattersubhalos |