arXiv subjects

Ben Moore

Publications and source records attributed to Ben Moore.

139 records · Page 8Linked to original sources

arXiv1998

Dark Matter Halos within Clusters

We examine the properties of dark matter halos within a rich galaxy cluster using a high resolution simulation that captures the cosmological context of a cold dark matter universe. The mass and force resolution permit the resolution of 150 halos with circular velocities larger than 80 kms within the cluster's virial radius of 2 Mpc. This enables an unprecedented study of the statistical properties of a large sample of dark matter halos evolving in a dense environment. The cumulative fraction of mass attached to these halos varies from 0% at 200 kpc, to 13% at the virial radius. Even at this resolution the overmerging problem persists; halos that pass within 200 kpc of the cluster center are tidally disrupted. Additional substructure is lost at earlier epochs within the massive progenitor halos. The median ratio of apocentric to pericentric radii is 6:1; the orbital distribution is close to isotropic, circular orbits are rare, radial orbits are common. The orbits of halos are unbiased with respect to both position within the cluster and with the orbits of the smooth dark matter background and no velocity bias is detected. The tidal radii of surviving halos are generally well-fit using the simple analytic prediction applied to their orbital pericenters. Halos within clusters have higher concentrations than those in the field. Within the cluster, halo density profiles can be modified by tidal forces and individual encounters with other halos that cause significant mass loss - ``galaxy harassment''. Mergers between halos do not occur inside the clusters virial radius.

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arXiv1998

Resolving the Structure of Cold Dark Matter Halos

We examine the effects of mass resolution and force softening on the density profiles of cold dark matter halos that form within cosmological N-body simulations. As we increase the mass and force resolution, we resolve progenitor halos that collapse at higher redshifts and have very high densities. At our highest resolution we have nearly 3 million particles within the virial radius, several orders of magnitude more than previously used and we can resolve more than one thousand surviving dark matter halos within this single virialised system. The halo profiles become steeper in the central regions and we may not have achieved convergence to a unique slope within the inner 10% of the virialised region. Results from two very high resolution halo simulations yield steep inner density profiles, $ρ(r)\sim r^{-1.4}$. The abundance and properties of arcs formed within this potential will be different from calculations based on lower resolution simulations. The kinematics of disks within such a steep potential may prove problematic for the CDM model when compared with the observed properties of halos on galactic scales.

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arXiv1997

The Structure and Dynamics of Cold Dark Matter Halos

We investigate the internal structure of cold dark matter halos using high resolution N-body simulations. As the mass and force resolution are increased, halo density profiles become steeper, asymptoting to a slope of $\sim -4/3$ in the central regions and may not have converged to a unique result. At our highest resolution we have nearly 3 million particles within the virial radius, $R_{200}$, and force softening that is $\sim 0.2% R_{200}$. This resolution has also allowed us to resolve a large part of the overmerging problem - we find over 1000 surviving dark halos orbiting within a single cluster potential. These data have given us unprecedented insights into the dynamics and structure of ``halos within halos'', allowing us for the first time, to compare the distribution of dark matter with observations of galaxies in clusters.

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arXiv1997

The Formation of Quasars in Low Luminosity Hosts via Galaxy Harassment

We have simulated disk galaxies undergoing continual bombardment by other galaxies in a rich cluster. "Galaxy harassment" leads to dramatic evolution of smaller disk galaxies and provides an extremely effective mechanism to fuel a central quasar. Within a few billion years after a small disk galaxy enters the cluster environment, up to 90% of its gas can be driven into the inner 500 pc. Up to half of the mass can be transferred in a burst lasting just 100-200 Myr. This transport of gas to the center of galaxy is far more efficient than any mechanism proposed before. Galaxy harassment was first proposed to explain the disturbed blue galaxies in clusters seen in clusters at ($z \gsim 0.3$), the "Butcher-Oemler effect". Quasars at the same reshifts lie in more clustered environments than those at lower redshift. Recent HST observations find that roughly half of all observed quasar host galaxiess are fainter than ł*, with many of these less luminous hosts occuring at redshifts $z \gsim 0.3$. We examine 5 quasars that are claimed to have low luminosity hosts and find that 3 are in rich clusters of galaxies, the fourth may be in a cluster but the evidence for this is marginal. The environment of the fifth has not been studied.

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arXiv1997

Morphological Transformation from Galaxy Harassment

Galaxy morphologies in clusters have undergone a remarkable transition over the past several billion years. Distant clusters at $z \sim 0.4$ are filled with small spiral galaxies, many of which are disturbed and show evidence of multiple bursts of star-formation. This population is absent from nearby clusters where spheroidals comprise the faint end of the luminosity function. Our numerical simulations follow the evolution of disk galaxies in a rich cluster owing to encounters with brighter galaxies and the cluster's tidal field---galaxy harassment. After a bursting transient phase, they undergo a complete morphological transformation from "disks" to"spheroidals". We examine the remnants and find support for our theory in detailed comparisons of the photometry and kinematics of the spheroidal galaxies in clusters. Our model naturally accounts for the intermediate age stellar population seen in these spheroidals as well as the trend in dwarf to giant ratio with cluster richness. The final shapes are typically prolate and are flattened primarily by velocity anisotropy. Their mass to light ratios are in the range 3---8 in good agreement with observations.

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arXiv1995

Constraints on the Global Mass-to-Light Ratios and Extent of Dark Matter Halos in Globular Clusters and Dwarf Spheroidals

The detection of stars in the process of being tidally removed from globular clusters and dwarf spheroidals in the Galaxy's halo provides a strong constraint on their mass to light ratios and on the extent of their possible dark matter halos. If a significant dark matter component existed either within or beyond the observed stellar distribution, then stars would not be removed. We use numerical simulations to study mass loss from two component star clusters orbiting within a deeper potential. We find a global upper limit on the mass to light ratios of globular clusters, M/L \lsim 2.5, and rule out the possibility that they have extended halos of low luminosity material. Similarly, the tidal tails of dwarf spheroidals indicates that their dark matter halos must be truncated at \sim 400 pc therefore they have total mass to light ratios \lsim 100.

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arXiv1995

Galaxy Harassment and the Evolution of Clusters of Galaxies

Disturbed spiral galaxies with high rates of star formation pervaded clusters of galaxies just a few billion years ago, but nearby clusters exclude spirals in favor of ellipticals. ``Galaxy harassment" (frequent high speed galaxy encounters) drives the morphological transformation of galaxies in clusters, provides fuel for quasars in subluminous hosts and leaves detectable debris arcs. Simulated images of harassed galaxies are strikingly similar to the distorted spirals in clusters at $z \sim 0.4$ observed by the Hubble Space Telescope.

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arXiv1995

On the Destruction and Over-Merging of Dark Halos in Dissipationless N-body Simulations

N-body simulations that follow only a collisionless dark matter component have failed to produce galaxy halos or substructure within dense environments. We investigate the `over-merging' problem analytically and with numerical simulations, by calculating dissolution timescales of halos due to physical and artificial dynamical effects. The numerical resolution that has recently been attained is such that mass-loss from two-body relaxation is negligible. We demonstrate that substructure is destroyed in present simulations as a result of large force softening combined with the heating sources of tides and encounters with dissolving substructure. In the limit of infinite numerical resolution, whether or not individual halos or substructure can survive depends sensitively on their inner density profiles. Singular isothermal halos will always survive at some level, however, if halos form with large core radii then the over-merging problem will always exist within dissipationless N-body simulations. In this latter case a dissipational component can increase the halos central density enabling galaxies to survive.

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arXiv1994

Dynamical and Observable Constraints on RAMBOs: Robust Associations of Massive Baryonic Objects

If the halo dark matter consists of faint baryonic stars, then these objects probably formed at an early epoch within large associations with similar dynamical properties to globular or open clusters. We use the luminosity function of globular clusters as a function of galactocentric distance to provide a very strong constraint on the properties of RAMBOs. We show that at the solar radius, dynamical constraints confine such clusters to a bounded and narrow parameter space with effective radii between 1 pc and 15 pc, corresponding to masses between $ \sim 10 -10^4 M_\odot$ and $\sim 10^4-10^6M_\odot$, respectively. Compact and massive clusters are excluded by these constraints, and therefore cannot provide a heating source capable of explaining the observed correlation between age and velocity dispersion for disk stars. Less than 1\% of the halo could be within RAMBOs of mass $10^7M_\odot$;an order magnitude lower than required in the model proposed by Wasserman \& Salpeter. Neither the IRAS or ISO infrared satellites have the capability to detect clusters of brown dwarfs within the dynamically allowed parameter space. Clusters of white dwarfs that formed a Hubble time ago have a surface brightness several magnitudes below the sky level; even clusters of low mass stars at the edge of the main sequence would remain invisible to the deepest K band surveys to date. We conclude that gravitational microlensing is the only method capable of constraining the abundance of dark matter in the form of clusters of stars. Recovering the dynamical properties of RAMBOs will be very difficult due to their large covering factor and low internal velocity dispersion.

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arXiv1994

The Clustering Properties of IRAS Galaxies

We investigate the clustering of galaxies in the QDOT redshift survey of IRAS galaxies. We find that the redshift space two-point correlation function is well approximated by a power-law of slope -1.11+\-0.09, with clustering length 3.87+\-0.32 Mpc/h out to pair separations of 25 Mpc\h. On scales larger than 40 Mpc/h, the correlation function is consistent with zero. The r.m.s. fluctuation in the count of QDOT galaxies above the Poisson level in spheres of radius 8 Mpc/h is σ_8^{IRAS}=0.58+\-0.14, showing that fluctuations in the distribution of IRAS galaxies on these scales are smaller than those of optical galaxies by a factor of about 0.65, with an uncertainty of 25%. We find no detectable difference between the correlation functions measured in redshift space and in real space, leading to a $2σ$ limit of b_{IRAS}/Ω^{0.6} >1.05, where b_{IRAS} is the bias factor for IRAS galaxies and Ωis the cosmological density parameter. The QDOT autocorrelation function calculated in concentric shells increases significantly with shell radius. This difference is more likely due to sampling fluctuations than to an increase of the clustering strength with galaxy luminosity, but the two effects are difficult to disentangle; our data allow at most an increase of \sim 20% in clustering strength for each decade in luminosity. For separations greater than \sim 3 Mpc/h, the cross-correlation function of Abell clusters (with Richness R\ge 1) and QDOT galaxies is well approximated by a power-law of slope -1.81+\-0.10, with clustering length 10.10+\-0.45 Mpc/h, and no significant signal beyond \gsim 50 Mpc\h. This cross-correlation depends only weakly on cluster richness.

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arXiv1994

The Nature Of Dark Matter

Collisionless particles, such as cold dark matter, interact only by gravity and do not have any associated length scale, therefore the dark halos of galaxies should have negligible core radii. This expectation has been supported by numerical experiments of collisionless particles within scale free and cold dark matter cosmologies. Most dwarf spiral galaxies are almost completely dark matter dominated, allowing a unique insight into their mass - density profiles which can be approximated by isothermal spheres with core radii of order 3 - 7 kpc. We can therefore make a direct comparison between these galaxies, and halos which form within the numerical simulations. This yields a severe discrepancy in that the simulations predict the density to fall as rho(r) \propto r^{-1} on the scales where the data show that rho(r) = const: e.g. the models overestimate the mass within the central few kpc of the halos by a factor of four. The formation of the luminous component of galaxies exacerbates this disparity between theory and observations, since the contraction of the baryons can significantly increase the central dark matter density.

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arXiv1994

The Origin of the Magellanic Stream

SHORTENED ABSTRACT: We present numerical investigations designed to critically test models of the origin of the Magellanic Stream. The most developed model is the tidal model which fails to reproduce several of its characteristic properties. We suggest an alternative model for the origin of the Stream which can explain all of its observed features and dynamics, as well as provide a strong constraint on the distribution of gas within the halo of the Milky Way. We propose that the Stream consists of material which was ram-pressure stripped from the Magellanic System during its last passage through an extended ionized disk of the Galaxy. This collision took place some 500 million years ago at a galacto-centric distance of about 65 kpc, and swept $\sim 20$\% of the least bound HI into the Stream. The gas with the lowest column density lost the most orbital angular momentum, and is presently at the tip of the Stream, having fallen to a distance of $\sim 20$ kpc from the Milky Way attaining a negative velocity of 200 \kms. To prevent the stripped material from leading the Magellanic Clouds and attaining too large an infall velocity, we postulate the existence of an extended dilute halo of diffuse ionized gas surrounding the Milky Way. If the halo gas is at the virial temperature of the potential well of the Milky Way, its thermal emission would contribute $\sim$ 40\% of the observed diffuse background radiation in the 0.5-1.0 keV (M) band, consistent with recent ROSAT measurements as well as pulsar dispersion measures. Ram pressure stripping

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arXiv1993

An Upper Limit to the Mass of Black Holes in the Halo of our Galaxy

If massive black holes constitute the dark matter in the halo surrounding the Milky Way, the existence of low mass globular clusters in the halo suggests an upper limit to their mass, $M_{_{BH}}$. We use a combination of the impulse approximation and numerical simulations to constrain $M_{_{BH}} \lsim 10^3M_\odot$, otherwise several of the halo globular clusters would be heated to disruption within one half of their lifetime. Taken at face value, this constraint is three orders of magnitude stronger than the previous limit provided by disk heating arguments. However, since the initial mass function of clusters is unknown, we argue that the real constraint is at most, an order of magnitude weaker. Our results rule out cosmological scenarios, such as versions of the Primordial Baryonic Isocurvature fluctuation model, which invoke the low Jeans mass at early epochs to create a large population of black holes of mass $\sim 10^6M_\odot$.

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