arXiv subjects

Mark Vogelsberger

Publications and source records attributed to Mark Vogelsberger.

At least 379 records · Page 21Linked to original sources

arXiv2017

A rumble in the dark: signatures of self-interacting dark matter in Super-Massive Black Hole dynamics and galaxy density profiles

We explore for the first time the effect of self-interacting dark matter (SIDM) on the dark matter (DM) and baryonic distribution in massive galaxies formed in hydrodynamical cosmological simulations, including explicit baryonic physics treatment. A novel implementation of Super-Massive Black Hole (SMBH) formation and evolution is used, as in Tremmel et al.(2015, 2016), allowing to explicitly follow SMBH dynamics at the center of galaxies. A high SIDM constant cross-section is chosen, $σ$=10 $\rm cm^2/gr$, to amplify differences from CDM models. Milky Way-like galaxies form a shallower DM density profile in SIDM than they do in CDM, with differences already at 20 kpc scales. This demonstrates that even for the most massive spirals the effect of SIDM dominates over the adiabatic contraction due to baryons. Strikingly, the dynamics of SMBHs differs in the SIDM and reference CDM case. SMBHs in massive spirals have sunk to the centre of their host galaxy in both the SIDM and CDM run, while in less massive galaxies about 80$\%$ of the SMBH population is off-centered in the SIDM case, as opposed to the CDM case in which $\sim$90$\%$ of SMBHs have reached their host's centre. SMBHs are found as far as $\sim$9 kpc away from the centre of their host SIDM galaxy. This difference is due to the increased dynamical friction timescale caused by the lower DM density in SIDM galaxies compared to CDM, resulting in 'core stalling'. This pilot work highlights the importance of simulating in a full hydrodynamical context different DM models combined to SMBH physics to study their influence on galaxy formation.

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arXiv2017

The inner structure of early-type galaxies in the Illustris simulation

Early-type galaxies provide unique tests for the predictions of the cold dark matter cosmology and the baryonic physics assumptions entering models for galaxy formation. In this work, we use the Illustris simulation to study correlations of three main properties of early-type galaxies, namely, the stellar orbital anisotropies, the central dark matter fractions and the central radial density slopes, as well as their redshift evolution since $z=1.0$. We find that lower-mass galaxies or galaxies at higher redshift tend to be bluer in rest-frame colour, have higher central gas fractions, and feature more tangentially anisotropic orbits and steeper central density slopes than their higher-mass or lower-redshift counterparts, respectively. The projected central dark matter fraction within the effective radius shows a very mild mass dependence but positively correlates with galaxy effective radii due to the aperture effect. The central density slopes obtained by combining strong lensing measurements with single aperture kinematics are found to differ from the true density slopes. We identify systematic biases in this measurement to be due to two common modelling assumptions, isotropic stellar orbital distributions and power-law density profiles. We also compare the properties of early-type galaxies in Illustris to those from existing galaxy and strong lensing surveys, we find in general broad agreement but also some tension, which poses a potential challenge to the stellar formation and feedback models adopted by the simulation.

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arXiv2017

Lens galaxies in the Illustris simulation: power-law models and the bias of the Hubble constant from time-delays

A power-law density model, i.e., $ρ(r) \propto r^{-γ'}$ has been commonly employed in strong gravitational lensing studies, including the so-called time-delay technique used to infer the Hubble constant $H_0$. However, since the radial scale at which strong lensing features are formed corresponds to the transition from the dominance of baryonic matter to dark matter, there is no known reason why galaxies should follow a power law in density. The assumption of a power law artificially breaks the mass-sheet degeneracy, a well-known invariance transformation in gravitational lensing which affects the product of Hubble constant and time delay and can therefore cause a bias in the determination of $H_0$ from the time-delay technique. In this paper, we use the Illustris hydrodynamical simulations to estimate the amplitude of this bias, and to understand how it is related to observational properties of galaxies. Investigating a large sample of Illustris galaxies that have velocity dispersion $σ_{SIE}$>160 km/s at redshifts below $z=1$, we find that the bias on $H_0$ introduced by the power-law assumption can reach 20%-50%, with a scatter of $10\%-30\%$ (rms). However, we find that by selecting galaxies with an inferred power-law model slope close to isothermal, it is possible to reduce the bias on $H_0$ to <5%, and the scatter to <10%. This could potentially be used to form less biased statistical samples for $H_0$ measurements in the upcoming large survey era.

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arXiv2017

Spreading out and staying sharp - Creating diverse rotation curves via baryonic and self-interaction effects

Galactic rotation curves are a fundamental constraint for any cosmological model. We use controlled N-body simulations of galaxies to study the gravitational effect of baryons in a scenario with collisionless cold dark matter (CDM) versus one with a self-interacting dark matter (SIDM) component. In particular, we examine the inner profiles of the rotation curves in the velocity range Vmax = 30-250 km/s, whose diversity has been found to be greater than predicted by the Lambda-CDM scenario. We find that the scatter in the observed rotation curves exceeds that predicted by dark matter only mass-concentration relations in either the CDM nor SIDM models. Allowing for realistic baryonic content and spatial distributions, however, helps create a large variety of rotation curve shapes; which is in better agreement with observations in the case of self-interactions due to the characteristic cored profiles being more accommodating to the slowly rising rotation curves than CDM. We find individual fits to model two of the most remarkable outliers of similar Vmax, UGC 5721 and IC 2574, the former a cusp-like rotation curve and the latter a seemingly 8 kpc cored profile. This diversity in SIDM arises as permutations of overly concentrated halos with compact baryonic distributions versus underdense halos with extended baryonic disks. The SIDM solution is promising and its feasibility ultimately depends on the sampling of the halo mass-concentration relation and its interplay with the baryonic profiles, emphasising the need for a better understanding of the frequency of extreme outliers present in current observational samples.

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arXiv2017

Mapping substructure in the HST Frontier Fields cluster lenses and in cosmological simulations

We map the lensing-inferred substructure in the first three clusters observed by the Hubble Space Telescope Frontier Fields Initiative (HSTFF): Abell 2744 (z = 0.308), MACSJ0416, (z = 0.396) and MACSJ1149 (z = 0.543). Statistically resolving dark-matter subhaloes down to ~10^{9.5} solar masses, we compare the derived subhalo mass functions (SHMFs) to theoretical predictions from analytical models and with numerical simulations in a Lambda Cold Dark Matter (LCDM) cosmology. Mimicking our observational cluster member selection criteria in the HSTFF, we report excellent agreement in both amplitude and shape of the SHMF over four decades in subhalo mass (10^{9-13} solar masses). Projection effects do not appear to introduce significant errors in the determination of SHMFs from simulations. We do not find evidence for a substructure crisis, analogous to the missing satellite problem in the Local Group, on cluster scales, but rather excellent agreement of the count-matched HSTFF SHMF down to M_{sub halo}/M_{halo} ~ 10^{-5}. However, we do find discrepancies in the radial distribution of sub haloes inferred from HSTFF cluster lenses compared to determinations from simulated clusters. This suggests that although the selected simulated clusters match the HSTFF sample in mass, they do not adequately capture the dynamical properties and complex merging morphologies of these observed cluster lenses. Therefore, HSTFF clusters are likely observed in a transient evolutionary stage that is presently insufficiently sampled in cosmological simulations. The abundance and mass function of dark matter substructure in cluster lenses continues to offer an important test of the LCDM paradigm, and at present we find no tension between model predictions and observations.

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arXiv2017

Intrinsic Alignments of Galaxies in the Illustris Simulation

We study intrinsic alignments (IA) of galaxy image shapes within the Illustris cosmic structure formation simulations. We investigate how IA correlations depend on observable galaxy properties such as stellar mass, apparent magnitude, redshift, and photometric type, and on the employed shape measurement method. The correlations considered include the matter density-intrinsic ellipticity (mI), galaxy density-intrinsic ellipticity (dI), gravitational shear-intrinsic ellipticity (GI), and intrinsic ellipticity-intrinsic ellipticity (II) correlations. We find stronger correlations for more massive and more luminous galaxies, as well as for earlier photometric types, in agreement with observations. Moreover, the correlations significantly depend on the choice of shape estimator, even if calibrated to serve as unbiased shear estimators. In particular, shape estimators that down-weight the outer parts of galaxy images produce much weaker IA signals on intermediate and large scales than methods employing flat radial weights. The expected contribution of intrinsic alignments to the observed ellipticity correlation in tomographic cosmic shear surveys may be below one percent or several percent of the full signal depending on the details of the shape measurement method. A comparison of our results to a tidal alignment model indicates that such a model is able to reproduce the IA correlations well on intermediate and large scales, provided the effect of varying galaxy density is correctly taken into account. We also find that the GI contributions to the observed ellipticity correlations could be inferred directly from measurements of galaxy density-intrinsic ellipticity correlations, except on small scales, where systematic differences between mI and dI correlations are large.

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arXiv2017

Simulating galaxy formation with black hole driven thermal and kinetic feedback

The inefficiency of star formation in massive elliptical galaxies is widely believed to be caused by the interactions of an active galactic nucleus (AGN) with the surrounding gas. Achieving a sufficiently rapid reddening of moderately massive galaxies without expelling too many baryons has however proven difficult for hydrodynamical simulations of galaxy formation, prompting us to explore a new model for the accretion and feedback effects of supermassive black holes. For high accretion rates relative to the Eddington limit, we assume that a fraction of the accreted rest mass energy heats the surrounding gas thermally, similar to the `quasar mode' in previous work. For low accretion rates, we invoke a new, pure kinetic feedback model which imparts momentum into the surrounding gas in a stochastic manner. These two modes of feedback are motivated both by theoretical conjectures for the existence of different types of accretion flows as well as recent observational evidence for the importance of kinetic AGN winds in quenching galaxies. We find that a large fraction of the injected kinetic energy in this mode thermalises via shocks in the surrounding gas, thereby providing a distributed heating channel. In cosmological simulations, the resulting model produces red, non star-forming massive elliptical galaxies, and achieves realistic gas fractions, black hole growth histories and thermodynamic profiles in large haloes.

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arXiv2017

DDO216-A1: a central globular cluster in a low-luminosity transition type galaxy

We confirm that the object DDO216-A1 is a substantial globular cluster at the center of Local Group galaxy DDO216 (the Pegasus dwarf irregular), using Hubble Space Telescope ACS imaging. By fitting isochrones, we find the cluster metallicity to be [M/H] = -1.6 +/-0.2, for reddening E(B-V) = 0.16 +/-0.02; the best-fit age is 12.3 +/-0.8 Gyr. There are ~30 RR Lyrae variables in the cluster; the magnitude of the fundamental mode pulsators gives a distance modulus of 24.77 +/-0.08 - identical to the host galaxy. The ratio of overtone to fundamental mode variables and their mean periods make DDO216-A1 an Oosterhoff Type I cluster. We find an I-band central surface brightness 20.85 +/-0.17 F814W mag per square arcsecond, a half-light radius of 3.1 arcsec (13.4 pc), and an absolute magnitude M814 = -7.90 +/-0.16 (approximately 10^5 solar masses). King models fit to the cluster give the core radius and concentration index, r_c = 2.1" +/-0.9" and c = 1.24 +/-0.39. The cluster is an "extended" cluster somewhat typical of some dwarf galaxies and the outer halo of the Milky Way. The cluster is projected <30 pc south of the center of DDO216, unusually central compared to most dwarf galaxy globular clusters. Analytical models of dynamical friction and tidal destruction suggest that it probably formed at a larger distance, up to ~1 kpc, and migrated inward. DDO216 has an unexceptional cluster specific frequency, S_N = 10. DDO216 is the lowest-luminosity Local Group galaxy to host a 10^5 solar mass globular cluster, and the only transition-type (dSph/dIrr) in the Local Group with a globular.

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arXiv2017

The role of mergers and halo spin in shaping galaxy morphology

Mergers and the spin of the dark matter halo are factors traditionally believed to determine the morphology of galaxies within a $Λ$CDM cosmology. We study this hypothesis by considering approximately 18,000 central galaxies at $z=0$ with stellar masses $M_{\ast} = 10^{9}-10^{12} \, {\rm M}_{\odot}$ selected from the Illustris cosmological hydrodynamic simulation. The fraction of accreted stars -- which measures the importance of massive, recent and dry mergers -- increases steeply with galaxy stellar mass, from less than 5 per cent in dwarfs to 80 per cent in the most massive objects, and the impact of mergers on galaxy morphology increases accordingly. For galaxies with $M_{\ast} \gtrsim 10^{11} \, {\rm M}_{\odot}$, mergers have the expected effect: if gas-poor they promote the formation of spheroidal galaxies, whereas gas-rich mergers favour the formation and survivability of massive discs. This trend, however, breaks at lower masses. For objects with $M_{\ast} \lesssim 10^{11} \, {\rm M}_{\odot}$, mergers do not seem to play any significant role in determining the morphology, with accreted stellar fractions and mean merger gas fractions that are indistinguishable between spheroidal and disc-dominated galaxies. On the other hand, halo spin correlates with morphology primarily in the least massive objects in the sample ($M_{\ast} \lesssim 10^{10} \, {\rm M}_{\odot}$), but only weakly for galaxies above that mass. Our results support a scenario where (1) mergers play a dominant role in shaping the morphology of massive galaxies, (2) halo spin is important for the morphology of dwarfs, and (3) the morphology of medium-sized galaxies -- including the Milky Way -- shows little dependence on galaxy assembly history or halo spin, at least when these two factors are considered individually.

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arXiv2017

The stellar mass assembly of galaxies in the Illustris simulation: growth by mergers and the spatial distribution of accreted stars

We use the Illustris simulation to study the relative contributions of in situ star formation and stellar accretion to the build-up of galaxies over an unprecedentedly wide range of masses ($M_{\ast} = 10^9-10^{12} \, {\rm M_{\odot}}$), galaxy types, environments, and assembly histories. We find that the `two-phase' picture of galaxy formation predicted by some models is a good approximation only for the most massive galaxies in our simulation -- namely, the stellar mass growth of galaxies below a few times $10^{11} \, {\rm M_{\odot}}$ is dominated by in situ star formation at all redshifts. The fraction of the total stellar mass of galaxies at $z=0$ contributed by accreted stars shows a strong dependence on galaxy stellar mass, ranging from about 10 per cent for Milky Way-sized galaxies to over 80 per cent for $M_{\ast} \approx 10^{12} \, {\rm M_{\odot}}$ objects, yet with a large galaxy-to-galaxy variation. At a fixed stellar mass, elliptical galaxies and those formed at the centres of younger haloes exhibit larger fractions of ex situ stars than disc-like galaxies and those formed in older haloes. On average, $\sim$50 per cent of the ex situ stellar mass comes from major mergers (stellar mass ratio $μ> 1/4$), $\sim$20 per cent from minor mergers ($1/10 < μ< 1/4$), $\sim$20 per cent from very minor mergers ($μ< 1/10$), and $\sim$10 per cent from stars that were stripped from surviving galaxies (e.g. flybys or ongoing mergers). These components are spatially segregated, with in situ stars dominating the innermost regions of galaxies, and ex situ stars being deposited at larger galactocentric distances in order of decreasing merger mass ratio.

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arXiv2016

Increasing blackhole feedback induced quenching with anisotropic thermal conduction

Feedback from central supermassive blackholes is often invoked to explain the low star formation rates in massive galaxies at the centers of galaxy clusters. However, the detailed physics of the coupling of the injected feedback energy with the intracluster medium is still unclear. Using high-resolution magnetohydrodynamic cosmological simulations of galaxy cluster formation, we investigate the role of anisotropic thermal conduction in shaping the thermodynamic structure of clusters, and, in particular, in modifying the impact of black hole feedback. Stratified anisotropically conducting plasmas are formally always unstable, and thus more prone to mixing, an expectation borne out by our results. The increased mixing efficiently isotropizes the injected feedback energy which in turn significantly improves the coupling between the feedback energy and the intracluster medium. This facilitates an earlier disruption of the cool core, reduces the star formation rate by more than an order of magnitude, and results in earlier quenching despite an overall lower amount of feedback energy injected into the cluster core. With conduction, the metallicity gradients and dispersions are lowered, aligning them better with observational constraints. These results highlight the important role of thermal conduction in establishing and maintaining quiescence of massive galaxies.

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arXiv2016

Enhanced tidal stripping of satellites in the galactic halo from dark matter self-interactions

We investigate the effects of self-interacting dark matter (SIDM) on the tidal stripping and evaporation of satellite galaxies in a Milky Way-like host. We use a suite of five zoom-in, dark-matter-only simulations, two with velocity-independent SIDM cross sections, two with velocity-dependent SIDM cross sections, and one cold dark matter simulation for comparison. After carefully assigning stellar mass to satellites at infall, we find that stars are stripped at a higher rate in SIDM than in CDM. In contrast, the total bound dark matter mass loss rate is minimally affected, with subhalo evaporation having negligible effects on satellites for viable SIDM models. Centrally located stars in SIDM haloes disperse out to larger radii as cores grow. Consequently, the half-light radius of satellites increases, stars become more vulnerable to tidal stripping, and the stellar mass function is suppressed. We find that the ratio of core radius to tidal radius accurately predicts the relative strength of enhanced SIDM stellar stripping. Velocity-independent SIDM models show a modest increase in the stellar stripping effect with satellite mass, whereas velocity-dependent SIDM models show a large increase in this effect towards lower masses, making observations of ultra-faint dwarfs prime targets for distinguishing between and constraining SIDM models. Due to small cores in the largest satellites of velocity-dependent SIDM, no identifiable imprint is left on the all-sky properties of the stellar halo. While our results focus on SIDM, the main physical mechanism of enhanced tidal stripping of stars apply similarly to satellites with cores formed via other means.

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arXiv2016

A moving mesh unstaggered constrained transport scheme for magnetohydrodynamics

We present a constrained transport (CT) algorithm for solving the 3D ideal magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) equations on a moving mesh, which maintains the divergence-free condition on the magnetic field to machine-precision. Our CT scheme uses an unstructured representation of the magnetic vector potential, making the numerical method simple and computationally efficient. The scheme is implemented in the moving mesh code Arepo. We demonstrate the performance of the approach with simulations of driven MHD turbulence, a magnetized disc galaxy, and a cosmological volume with primordial magnetic field. We compare the outcomes of these experiments to those obtained with a previously implemented Powell divergence-cleaning scheme. While CT and the Powell technique yield similar results in idealized test problems, some differences are seen in situations more representative of astrophysical flows. In the turbulence simulations, the Powell cleaning scheme artificially grows the mean magnetic field, while CT maintains this conserved quantity of ideal MHD. In the disc simulation, CT gives slower magnetic field growth rate and saturates to equipartition between the turbulent kinetic energy and magnetic energy, whereas Powell cleaning produces a dynamically dominant magnetic field. Such difference has been observed in adaptive-mesh refinement codes with CT and smoothed-particle hydrodynamics codes with divergence-cleaning. In the cosmological simulation, both approaches give similar magnetic amplification, but Powell exhibits more cell-level noise. CT methods in general are more accurate than divergence-cleaning techniques, and, when coupled to a moving mesh can exploit the advantages of automatic spatial/temporal adaptivity and reduced advection errors, allowing for improved astrophysical MHD simulations.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2016

The Mass Profile of the Milky Way to the Virial Radius from the Illustris Simulation

We use particle data from the Illustris simulation, combined with individual kinematic constraints on the mass of the Milky Way (MW) at specific distances from the Galactic center, to infer the radial distribution of the MW's dark matter halo mass. Our method allows us to convert any constraint on the mass of the MW within a fixed distance to a full circular velocity profile to the MW's virial radius. As primary examples, we take two recent (and discrepant) measurements of the total mass within 50 kpc of the Galaxy and find they imply very different mass profiles and stellar masses for the Galaxy. The dark-matter-only version of the Illustris simulation enables us to compute the effects of galaxy formation on such constraints on a halo-by-halo basis; on small scales, galaxy formation enhances the density relative to dark-matter-only runs, while the total mass density is approximately 20% lower at large Galactocentric distances. We are also able to quantify how current and future constraints on the mass of the MW within specific radii will be reflected in uncertainties on its virial mass: even a measurement of M(<50 kpc) with essentially perfect precision still results in a 20% uncertainty on the virial mass of the Galaxy, while a future measurement of M(<100 kpc) with 10% errors would result in the same level of uncertainty. We expect that our technique will become even more useful as (1) better kinematic constraints become available at larger distances and (2) cosmological simulations provide even more faithful representations of the observable Universe.

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arXiv2016

Shock finding on a moving-mesh: II. Hydrodynamic shocks in the Illustris universe

Hydrodynamical shocks are a manifestation of the non-linearity of the Euler equations and play a fundamental role in cosmological gas dynamics. In this work, we identify and analyse shocks in the Illustris simulation, and contrast the results with those of non-radiative runs. We show that simulations with more comprehensive physical models of galaxy formation pose new challenges for shock finding algorithms due to radiative cooling and star-forming processes, prompting us to develop a number of methodology improvements. We find in Illustris a total shock surface area which is about 1.4 times larger at the present epoch compared to non-radiative runs, and an energy dissipation rate at shocks which is higher by a factor of around 7. Remarkably, shocks with Mach numbers above and below $\mathcal{M}\approx10$ contribute about equally to the total dissipation across cosmic time. This is in sharp contrast to non-radiative simulations, and we demonstrate that a large part of the difference arises due to strong black hole radio-mode feedback in Illustris. We also provide an overview of the large diversity of shock morphologies, which includes complex networks of halo-internal shocks, shocks on to cosmic sheets, feedback shocks due to black holes and galactic winds, as well as ubiquitous accretion shocks. In high redshift systems more massive than $10^{12}\,\mathrm{M}_\odot$ we discover the existence of a double accretion shock pattern in haloes. They are created when gas streams along filaments without being shocked at the outer accretion shock, but then forms a second, roughly spherical accretion shock further inside.

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arXiv2016

Forward and backward galaxy evolution in comoving number density space

Galaxy comoving number density is commonly used to forge progenitor/descendant links between observed galaxy populations at different epochs. However, this method breaks down in the presence of galaxy mergers, or when galaxies experience stochastic growth rates. We present a simple analytic framework to treat the physical processes that drive the evolution and diffusion of galaxies within comoving number density space. The evolution in mass rank order of a galaxy population with time is influenced by the galaxy coagulation rate and galaxy "mass rank scatter" rate. We quantify the relative contribution of these two effects to the mass rank order evolution. We show that galaxy coagulation is dominant at lower redshifts and stellar masses, while scattered growth rates dominate the mass rank evolution at higher redshifts and stellar masses. For a galaxy population at $10^{10} M_\odot$, coagulation has been the dominant effect since $z=2.2$, but a galaxy population at $10^{11} M_\odot$ was dominated by mass rank scatter until $z=0.6$. We show that although the forward and backward median number density evolution tracks are asymmetric, the backward median number density evolution can be obtained by convolving the descendant distribution function with progenitor relative abundances. We tabulate fits for the median number density evolution and scatter which can be applied to improve the way galaxy populations are linked in multi-epoch observational datasets.

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arXiv2016

ETHOS - An Effective Theory of Structure Formation: Dark matter physics as a possible explanation of the small-scale CDM problems

We present the first simulations within an effective theory of structure formation (ETHOS), which includes the effect of interactions between dark matter and dark radiation on the linear initial power spectrum and dark matter self-interactions during non-linear structure formation. We simulate a Milky Way-like halo in four different dark matter models and the cold dark matter case. Our highest resolution simulation has a particle mass of $2.8\times 10^4\,{\rm M}_\odot$ and a softening length of $72.4\,{\rm pc}$. We demonstrate that all alternative models have only a negligible impact on large scale structure formation. On galactic scales, however, the models significantly affect the structure and abundance of subhaloes due to the combined effects of small scale primordial damping in the power spectrum and late time self-interactions. We derive an analytic mapping from the primordial damping scale in the power spectrum to the cutoff scale in the halo mass function and the kinetic decoupling temperature. We demonstrate that certain models within this extended effective framework that can alleviate the too-big-to-fail and missing satellite problems simultaneously, and possibly the core-cusp problem. The primordial power spectrum cutoff of our models naturally creates a diversity in the circular velocity profiles, which is larger than that found for cold dark matter simulations. We show that the parameter space of models can be constrained by contrasting model predictions to astrophysical observations. For example, some models may be challenged by the missing satellite problem if baryonic processes were to be included and even over-solve the too-big-to-fail problem; thus ruling them out.

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arXiv2016

The Network Behind the Cosmic Web

The concept of the cosmic web, viewing the Universe as a set of discrete galaxies held together by gravity, is deeply engrained in cosmology. Yet, little is known about the most effective construction and the characteristics of the underlying network. Here we explore seven network construction algorithms that use various galaxy properties, from their location, to their size and relative velocity, to assign a network to galaxy distributions provided by both simulations and observations. We find that a model relying only on spatial proximity offers the best correlations between the physical characteristics of the connected galaxies. We show that the properties of the networks generated from simulations and observations are identical, unveiling a deep universality of the cosmic web.

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