Efficient numerical evolution of self-gravitating systems with dark-matter-baryon scattering

Abstract

We present a fast algorithm to numerically evolve a spherically symmetric system consisting of dark matter and gas, including dark-matter-baryon scattering. The method augments the spherical N-body code NSphere, which collapses the six-dimensional phase space of a spherical collisionless system to three dimensions, with a one-dimensional Lagrangian treatment of gas. Dark-matter-baryon scattering is implemented as a Monte-Carlo process between the dark-matter numerical particles and the gas shells. We also implement an algorithm for radiative gas cooling that is valid for weak cooling. The gas, as well as dark-matter-baryon scattering and cooling, adds only incrementally to the run time of the code, allowing systems to be evolved on a laptop computer, a tiny fraction of the computational resources required for a full 3D N-body/hydro simulation. To illustrate, we show the evolution of a $\sim 10^{13}\,M_\odot$ halo with a dark-matter-baryon scattering cross section $σ_{\rm tot}/m_χ=0.1\,{\rm cm}^2\,{\rm g}^{-1}$ but no gas cooling. We then show examples with radiative gas cooling where the cooling is altered through interaction with dark-matter particles. The resulting code, NSphere-IDM, allows the implications of dark-matter interactions for galaxy evolution to be explored quickly over large volumes of the dark-matter parameter space, and other new physics (e.g., dark-matter self-interactions or anisotropy in the distribution function) is easily incorporated. The code can also provide useful calibrations and benchmarks for fully 3D N-body or hydrodynamical simulations.