A quantitative comparison between velocity dependent SIDM cross-sections constrained by the gravothermal and isothermal models
ABSTRACT One necessary step for probing the nature of self-interacting dark matter (SIDM) particles with astrophysical observations is to pin down any possible velocity dependence in the SIDM cross-section. Major challenges for achieving this goal include eliminating, or mitigating, the impact of the baryonic components and tidal effects within the dark matter halos of interest – the effects of these processes can be highly degenerate with those of dark matter self-interactions at small scales. In this work, we select 9 isolated galaxies and brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs) with baryonic components small enough such that the baryonic gravitational potentials do not significantly influence the halo gravothermal evolution processes. We then constrain the parameters of Rutherford and Møller scattering cross-section models with the measured rotation curves and stellar kinematics through the gravothermal fluid formalism and isothermal method. Cross-sections constrained by the two methods are consistent at $1\sigma$ confidence level, but the isothermal method prefers cross-sections greater than the gravothermal approach constraints by a factor of $\sim 3$.
Authors
- Moritz S. Fischer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6619-4480)
- Charlie Mace (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9419-6547)
- Xiaolong Du (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0728-2533)
- Zhichao Carton Zeng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6008-5144)
- Fangzhou Jiang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6115-0633)
- Andrew Benson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5501-6008)
- Annika H. G. Peter (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8040-6785)
- Shengqi Yang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0782-9116)
- Yi-Ming Zhong (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9922-6162)
Institutions
- Albert Einstein College of Medicine (US)
- Los Alamos National Laboratory (US)
- University of California, Los Angeles (US)
- City University of Hong Kong (HK)
- Peking University (CN)
- Institute for Advanced Study (US)
- University of Chicago (US)
- Excellence Cluster Origins (DE)
- Kavli Institute for Theoretical Sciences (CN)
- Carnegie Observatories (US)
- The Ohio State University (US)
- Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (DE)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Published
- 2024-08-29
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stae2038
- Citations
- 10
- Primary Topic
- Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 3.32
Funders
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
- Nuclear Safety and Security Commission
- Astrophysics Division