arXiv subjects

Susmita Adhikari

Publications and source records attributed to Susmita Adhikari.

42 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2018

Probing Self-interacting Dark Matter with Disk Galaxies in Cluster Environments

Self-Interacting Dark Matter (SIDM) has long been proposed as a solution to small scale problems posed by standard Cold Dark Matter (CDM). We use numerical simulations to study the effect of dark matter interactions on the morphology of disk galaxies falling into galaxy clusters. The effective drag force on dark matter leads to offsets of the stellar disk with respect to the surrounding halo, causing distortions in the disk. For anisotropic scattering cross-sections of 0.5 and 1.0$\,\textrm{cm}^{2}\textrm{g}^{-1}$, we show that potentially observable warps, asymmetries, and thickening of the disk occur in simulations. We discuss observational tests of SIDM with galaxy surveys and more realistic simulations needed to obtain detailed predictions.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2018

Splashback in galaxy clusters as a probe of cosmic expansion and gravity

The splashback radius is a physical scale in dark matter halos that is set by the gravitational dynamics of recently accreted shells. We use analytical models and N-body simulations to study the dependence of splashback on dark energy and screened modified gravity theories. In modified gravity models, the transition from screened to unscreened regions typically occurs in the cluster outskirts, suggesting potentially observable signatures in the splashback feature. We investigate the location of splashback in both chameleon and Vainshtein screened models and find significant differences compared with $Λ$CDM predictions. We also find an interesting interplay between dynamical friction and modified gravity, providing a distinctive signature for modified gravity models in the behavior of the splashback feature as a function of galaxy luminosity.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2017

The Halo Boundary of Galaxy Clusters in the SDSS

Mass around dark matter halos can be divided into "infalling" material and "collapsed" material that has passed through at least one pericenter. Analytical models and simulations predict a rapid drop in the halo density profile associated with the transition between these two regimes. Using data from SDSS, we explore the evidence for such a feature in the density profiles of galaxy clusters and investigate the connection between this feature and a possible phase space boundary. We first estimate the steepening of the outer galaxy density profile around clusters: the profiles show an abrupt steepening, providing evidence for truncation of the halo profile. Next, we measure the galaxy density profile around clusters using two sets of galaxies selected based on color. We find evidence of an abrupt change in the galaxy colors that coincides with the location of the steepening of the density profile. Since galaxies are likely to be quenched of star formation and turn red inside of clusters, this change in the galaxy color distribution can be interpreted as the transition from an infalling regime to a collapsed regime. We also measure this transition using a model comparison approach which has been used recently in studies of the "splashback" phenomenon, but find that this approach is not a robust way to quantify the significance of detecting a splashback-like feature. Finally, we perform measurements using an independent cluster catalog to test for potential systematic errors associated with cluster selection. We identify several avenues for future work: improved understanding of the small-scale galaxy profile, lensing measurements, identification of proxies for the halo accretion rate, and other tests. With upcoming data from the DES, KiDS and HSC surveys, we can expect significant improvements in the study of halo boundaries.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2016

Observing dynamical friction in galaxy clusters

We present a novel method to detect the effects of dynamical friction in observed galaxy clusters. Following accretion into clusters, massive satellite galaxies will backsplash to systematically smaller radii than less massive satellites, an effect that may be detected by stacking the number density profiles of galaxies around clusters. We show that this effect may be understood using a simple toy model which reproduces the trends with halo properties observed in simulations. We search for this effect using SDSS redMaPPer clusters with richness 10 -20) satellites at 99% confidence.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2014

Splashback in accreting dark matter halos

Recent work has shown that density profiles in the outskirts of dark matter halos can become extremely steep over a narrow range of radius. This behavior is produced by splashback material on its first apocentric passage after accretion. We show that the location of this splashback feature may be understood quite simply, from first principles. We present a simple model, based on spherical collapse, that accurately predicts the location of splashback without any free parameters. The important quantities that determine the splashback radius are accretion rate and redshift.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2014

Three-point galaxy-galaxy lensing as a probe of dark matter halo shapes

We propose a method to measure the ellipticities of dark matter halos using the lens-shear-shear 3-point correlation function. This method is immune to effects of galaxy-halo misalignments that can potentially limit 2-point galaxy-galaxy lensing measurements of halo anisotropy. Using a simple model for the projected mass distributions of dark matter halos, we construct an ellipticity estimator that sums over all possible triangular configurations of the 3-point function. By applying our estimator to halos from N-body simulations, we find that systematic errors in the recovered ellipticity will be at the <5% fractional level. We estimate that future imaging surveys like LSST will have sufficient statistics to detect halo ellipticities using 3-point lensing.

astro-ph.CO↗