arXiv subjects

Steen H. Hansen

Publications and source records attributed to Steen H. Hansen.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2008

Measurement of the dark matter velocity anisotropy in galaxy clusters

The internal dynamics of a dark matter structure may have the remarkable property that the local temperature in the structure depends on direction. This is parametrized by the velocity anisotropy beta which must be zero for relaxed collisional structures, but has been shown to be non-zero in numerical simulations of dark matter structures. Here we present a method to infer the radial profile of the velocity anisotropy of the dark matter halo in a galaxy cluster from X-ray observables of the intracluster gas. This non-parametric method is based on a universal relation between the dark matter temperature and the gas temperature which is confirmed through numerical simulations. We apply this method to observational data and we find that beta is significantly different from zero at intermediate radii. Thus we find a strong indication that dark matter is effectively collisionless on the dynamical time-scale of clusters, which implies an upper limit on the self-interaction cross-section per unit mass sigma/m < 1 cm2/g. Our results may provide an independent way to determine the stellar mass density in the central regions of a relaxed cluster, as well as a test of whether a cluster is in fact relaxed.

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arXiv2007

Measuring the dark matter velocity anisotropy in galaxy clusters

The Universe contains approximately 6 times more dark matter than normal baryonic matter, and a directly observed fundamental difference between dark matter and baryons would both be significant for our understanding of dark matter structures and provide us with information about the basic characteristics of the dark matter particle. We discuss one distinctive feature of dark matter structures in equilibrium, namely the property that a local dark matter temperature may depend on direction. This is in stark contrast to baryonic gases. We used X-ray observations of two nearby, relaxed galaxy clusters, under the assumptions of hydrostatic equilibrium and identical dark matter and gas temperatures in the outer cluster region, to measure this dark matter temperature anisotropy beta_dm, with non-parametric Monte Carlo methods. We find that beta_dm is greater than the value predicted for baryonic gases, beta_gas=0, at more than 3 sigma confidence. The observed value of the temperature anisotropy is in fair agreement with the results of cosmological N-body simulations and shows that the equilibration of the dark matter particles is not governed by local point-like interactions in contrast to baryonic gases.

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arXiv2007

The nature of dark matter and the density profile and central behavior of relaxed halos

We show that the two basic assumptions of the model recently proposed by Manrique and coworkers for the universal density profile of cold dark matter (CDM) halos, namely that these objects grow inside out in periods of smooth accretion and that their mass profile and its radial derivatives are all continuous functions, are both well understood in terms of the very nature of CDM. Those two assumptions allow one to derive the typical density profile of halos of a given mass from the accretion rate characteristic of the particular cosmology. This profile was shown by Manrique and coworkers to recover the results of numerical simulations. In the present paper, we investigate its behavior beyond the ranges covered by present-day N-body simulations. We find that the central asymptotic logarithmic slope depends crucially on the shape of the power spectrum of density perturbations: it is equal to a constant negative value for power-law spectra and has central cores for the standard CDM power spectrum. The predicted density profile in the CDM case is well fitted by the 3D Sérsic profile over at least 10 decades in halo mass. The values of the Sérsic parameters depend on the mass of the structure considered. A practical procedure is provided that allows one to infer the typical values of the best NFW or Sérsic fitting law parameters for halos of any mass and redshift in any given standard CDM cosmology.

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arXiv2007

Searching for decaying axion-like dark matter from clusters of galaxies

We consider the possibility of constraining the lifetime of radiatively decaying dark matter particles in clusters of galaxies inspired from generic axions of the Kaluza-Klein type. Such axions have been invoked as a possible explanation for the coronal X-ray emission from the Sun. These axions, or similar particles, can be produced inside stars and some of them remain confined by the deep gravitational potential of clusters of galaxies. Specifically, we consider regions within merging galaxy clusters (Abell 520 and the "Bullet Cluster"), where gravitational lensing observations have identified massive, but baryon poor, structures. From an analysis of X-ray observations of these mass concentrations, and the expected photon spectrum of decaying solar KK-axions, we derive lower limits to the lifetime of such axions of tau approx. 10^23 sec. However, if KK-axions constitute less than a few percent of the dark matter mass, this lifetime constraint is similar to that derived from solar KK-axions.

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arXiv2007

The Accretion-Driven Structure and Kinematics of Relaxed Dark Halos

It has recently been shown that relaxed spherically symmetric dark matter halos develop from the inside out, by permanently adapting their inner structure to the boundary conditions imposed by the current accretion rate. Such a growth allows one to infer the typical density profiles of halos. Here we follow the same approach to infer the typical spherically averaged profiles of the main structural and kinematic properties of triaxial, anisotropic, rotating halos. Specifically, we derive their density, spatial velocity dispersion, phase-space density, anisotropy and specific angular momentum profiles. The results obtained are in agreement with available data on these profiles from \nbody simulations.

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arXiv2006

An alternative to grids and glasses: Quaquaversal pre-initial conditions for N-body simulations

N-body simulations sample their initial conditions on an initial particle distribution, which for cosmological simulations is usually a glass or grid, whilst a Poisson distribution is used for galaxy models, spherical collapse etc. These pre-initial conditions have inherent correlations, noise due to discreteness and preferential alignments, whilst the glass distribution is poorly defined and computationally expensive to construct. We present a novel particle distribution which can be useful as a pre-initial condition for N-body simulations, using a simple construction based on a ``quaquaversal'' tiling of space. This distribution has little preferred orientation (i.e. is statistically isotropic), has a rapidly vanishing large scale power-spectrum (P(k) ~ k^4), and is trivial to create. It should be particularly useful for warm dark matter and cold collapse simulations.

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arXiv2006

Probing the nature of dark matter with Cosmic X-rays: Constraints from "Dark blobs" and grating spectra of galaxy clusters

Gravitational lensing observations of galaxy clusters have identified dark matter ``blobs'' with remarkably low baryonic content. We use such a system to probe the particle nature of dark matter with X-ray observations. We also study high resolution X-ray grating spectra of a cluster of galaxies. From these grating spectra we improve the conservative constraints on a particular dark matter candidate, the sterile neutrino, by more than one order of magnitude. Based on these conservative constraints obtained from Cosmic X-ray observations alone, the low mass (m_s < 10keV) and low mixing angle (sin^2(2θ) 10^{-6}) sterile neutrino is still a viable dark matter candidate.

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arXiv2006

The density profiles of hot galactic halo gas

Extended gas haloes around galaxies are a ubiquitous prediction of galaxy formation scenarios. However, the density profiles of this hot halo gas is virtually unknown, although various profiles have been suggested on theoretical grounds. In order to quantitatively address the gas profile, we compare galaxies from direct cosmological simulations with analytical solutions of the underlying gas equations. We find remarkable agreement between simulations and theoretical predictions. We present an expression for this gas profile with a non-trivial dependence on the total mass profile. This expression is useful when setting up equilibrium galaxy models for numerical experiments.

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arXiv2006

Sterile neutrinos in the Milky Way: Observational constraints

We consider the possibility of constraining decaying dark matter by looking out through the Milky Way halo. Specifically we use Chandra blank sky observations to constrain the parameter space of sterile neutrinos. We find that a broad band in parameter space is still open, leaving the sterile neutrino as an excellent dark matter candidate.

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arXiv2005

The velocity anisotropy - density slope relation

One can solve the Jeans equation analytically for equilibrated dark matter structures, once given two pieces of input from numerical simulations. These inputs are 1) a connection between phase-space density and radius, and 2) a connection between velocity anisotropy and density slope, the α-βrelation. The first (phase-space density v.s. radius) has already been analysed through several different simulations, however the second (α-βrelation) has not been quantified yet. We perform a large set of numerical experiments in order to quantify the slope and zero-point of the α-βrelation. We find strong indication that the relation is indeed an attractor. When combined with the assumption of phase-space being a power-law in radius, this allows us to conclude that equilibrated dark matter structures indeed have zero central velocity anisotropy β_0 = 0, central density slope of α_0 = -0.8, and outer anisotropy of β_\infty = 0.5.

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arXiv2005

A universal density slope - velocity anisotropy relation for relaxed structures

We identify a universal relation between the radial density slope α(r) and the velocity anisotropy β(r) for equilibrated structures. This relation holds for a variety of systems, including disk galaxy mergers, spherical collapses, cold dark matter (CDM) halos both with and without cooling. We argue that the shape of the relation is reasonable from fundamental principles when the dark matter or stars are assumed to obey Tsallis statistics, and in that case we fit the α- βrelation with just one free parameter. One can use this result to close the Jeans equations, for example to construct mass models of elliptical galaxies from observational data or to tune dark matter direct detection experiments. We also predict the asymptotic central slope and anisotropy of CDM halos to be approximately -1 and 0.

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arXiv2005

A universal density slope - velocity anisotropy relation

One can solve the Jeans equation analytically for equilibrated dark matter structures, once given two pieces of input from numerical simulations. These inputs are 1) a connection between phase-space density and radius, and 2) a connection between velocity anisotropy and density slope, the α-βrelation. The first (phase-space density v.s. radius) has been analysed through several different simulations, however the second (α-βrelation) has not been quantified yet. We perform a large set of numerical experiments in order to quantify the slope and zero-point of the α-βrelation. When combined with the assumption of phase-space being a power-law in radius this allows us to conclude that equilibrated dark matter structures indeed have zero central velocity anisotropy, central density slope of α_0 = -0.8, and outer anisotropy of approximately β_\infinity = 0.5.

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arXiv2005

A universal velocity distribution of relaxed collisionless structures

Several general trends have been identified for equilibrated, self-gravitating collisionless systems, such as density or anisotropy profiles. These are integrated quantities which naturally depend on the underlying velocity distribution function (VDF) of the system. We study this VDF through a set of numerical simulations, which allow us to extract both the radial and the tangential VDF. We find that the shape of the VDF is universal, in the sense that it depends only on two things namely the dispersion (radial or tangential) and the local slope of the density. Both the radial and the tangential VDF's are universal for a collection of simulations, including controlled collisions with very different initial conditions, radial infall simulation, and structures formed in cosmological simulations.

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arXiv2005

Trouble for cluster parameter estimation from blind SZ surveys?

(Abriged version) The Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) effect of galaxy clusters is a tool to measure three quantities: Compton parameter, electron temperature, and cluster peculiar velocity. However, a major problem is non-removed contamination by astrophysical sources that emit in the SZ frequencies. This includes interstellar dust emission, infra-red (IR) galaxies, and radio sources in addition to primary Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) anisotropies. The three former contaminations induce systematic shifts in the three SZ parameters. In this study, we carefully estimated, both for a large beam experiment (namely Planck Surveyor) and a small beam experiment (ACT-like), the systematic errors that result if a fraction of the expected levels of emission from dust, IR galaxies, and radio sources remains non-removed. ...

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arXiv2005

Cluster temperatures and non-extensive thermo-statistics

We propose a novel component to the understanding of the temperature structure of galaxy clusters which does not rely on any heating or cooling mechanism. The new ingredient is the use of non-extensive thermo-statistics which is based on the natural generalization of entropy for systems with long-range interactions. Such interactions include gravity and attraction or repulsion due to charges. We explain that there is growing theoretical indications for the need of this generalization for large cosmological structures. The observed pseudo temperature is generally different from the true thermodynamic temperature, and we clarify the connection between the two. We explain that this distinction is most important in the central part of the cluster where the density profile is most shallow. We show that the observed pseudo temperature may differ up to a factor 2/5 from the true thermodynamic temperature, either larger or smaller. In general the M-T and L-T relations will be affected, and the central DM slope derived through hydrostatic equilibrium may be either more shallow or steeper. We show how the true temperature can be extracted correctly either from the spectrum or from the shape of the Doppler broadening of spectral lines.

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arXiv2004

Dark matter distribution function from non-extensive statistical mechanics

We present an analytical and numerical study of the velocity distribution function of self gravitating collisionless particles, which include dark matter and star clusters. We show that the velocity distribution derived through the Eddington's formula is identical to the analytical one derived directly from the generalized entropy of non-extensive statistical mechanics. This implies that self gravitating collisionless structures are to be described by non-extensive thermo-statistics. We identify a connection between the density slope of dark matter structures, γ, from ρ~ r^{-γ}, and the entropic index, q, from the generalized entropy, S_q. Our numerical result confirms the analytical findings of earlier studies and clarifies which is the correct connection between the density slope and the entropic index. We use this result to conclude that from a fundamental statistical mechanics point of view the central density slope of self gravitating collisionless dark matter structures is not constrained, and even cored dark matter structures are allowed with γ= 0. We find that the outer density slope is bounded by γ= 10/3.

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arXiv2004

SZ cluster science with the Planck HFI experiment

In the near future the Planck satellite will gather impressive information about the anisotropies of the cosmic microwave background and about the galaxy clusters which perturb that signal. We will here review the ability of Planck to extract information about these galaxy clusters through the Sunyaev-Zeldovich imprint. We will conclude that Planck will provide a catalogue of galaxy clusters, which will be very useful for future targeted observations. We will explain why Planck will not be very good in extracting detailed information about individual clusters, except for the dominating Compton parameter, $y$, which will be measured to a few percent for individual clusters. In this last point I am being rather conservative, but that will leave space for pleasant surprises when the Planck data will be analysed.

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arXiv2004

Dark matter density profiles from the Jeans equation

We make a simple analytical study of radial profiles of dark matter structures, with special attention to the question of the central radial density profile. We let our theoretical assumptions be guided by results from numerical simulations, and show that at any radius where both the radial density profile, rho, and the phase-space-like density profile, rho/sigma^epsilon, are exact power laws, the only allowed density slopes in agreement with the spherical symmetric and isotropic Jeans equation are in the range 1< beta <3, where beta = - dln(rho)/dln(r). We also allow for a radial variation of these power laws, as well as anisotropy, and show how this allows for more shallow central slopes.

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