Cosmological particle-in-cell simulations with ultralight axion dark matter

Abstract

We study cosmological structure formation with ultralight axion dark matter, or "fuzzy dark matter (FDM), using a particle-mesh scheme to account for the quantum pressure arising in the Madelung formulation of the Schrödinger-Poisson equations. Subpercent-level energy conservation and correct linear behavior are demonstrated. Whereas the code gives rise to the same core-halo profiles as direct simulations of the Schrödinger equation, it does not reproduce the detailed interference patterns. In cosmological simulations with FDM initial conditions, we find a maximum relative difference of O($10\%$) in the power spectrum near the quantum Jeans length compared to using a standard N-body code with identical initial conditions. This shows that the effect of quantum pressure during nonlinear structure formation cannot be neglected for precision constraints on a dark matter component consisting of ultralight axions.

7 pages, 8 figures, this version was accepted in PRD

References in corpus (12)

• Cosmic Structure as the Quantum Interference of a Coherent Dark Wave
• Discovering the QCD Axion with Black Holes and Gravitational Waves
• Understanding the Core-Halo Relation of Quantum Wave Dark Matter, $\psi$DM, from 3D Simulations
• The Observed properties of Dark Matter on small spatial scales
• Axion dark matter, solitons, and the cusp-core problem
• Galaxy UV-luminosity function and reionization constraints on axion dark matter
• Scalar Field Dark Matter: non-spherical collapse and late time behavior
• Scalar Field Dark Matter: head-on interaction between two structures
• Non-linear hydrodynamics of axion dark matter: relative velocity effects and "quantum forces"
• Interference pattern in the collision of structures in the BEC dark matter model: comparison with fluids
• Is Sextans dwarf galaxy in a scalar field dark matter halo?
• Rotation curves of ultralight BEC dark matter halos with rotation

Cited by in corpus (46)

• Ultralight scalars as cosmological dark matter
• CMB-S4 Science Case, Reference Design, and Project Plan
• Wave Dark Matter
• Large-scale dark matter simulations
• Structure formation in large-volume cosmological simulations of fuzzy dark matter: Impact of the non-linear dynamics
• The impact of ultra-light axion self-interactions on the large scale structure of the Universe
• Ultra-light dark matter in disk galaxies
• Oscillations and Random Walk of the Soliton Core in a Fuzzy Dark Matter Halo
• Fuzzy Dark Matter and the Dark Energy Survey Year 1 Data
• Construction of Wave Dark Matter Halos: Numerical Algorithm and Analytical Constraints
• The halo mass function and filaments in full cosmological simulations with fuzzy dark matter
• Core-halo mass relation of ultralight axion dark matter from merger history
• Don't cross the streams: caustics from Fuzzy Dark Matter
• Deep zoom-in simulation of a fuzzy dark matter galactic halo
• From a microscopic inertial active matter model to the Schrödinger equation
• Beyond Schrödinger-Poisson: Nonrelativistic Effective Field Theory for Scalar Dark Matter
• Effective field theory for black holes with induced scalar charges
• Boson stars and their relatives in semiclassical gravity
• Dark matter profiles of SPARC galaxies: a challenge to fuzzy dark matter
• Probing ultra-light axions with the 21-cm Signal during Cosmic Dawn
• Axions: From Magnetars and Neutron Star Mergers to Beam Dumps and BECs
• Extreme $\ell$-boson stars
• Gravitational lensing $H_0$ tension from ultralight axion galactic cores
• Improved Mixed Dark Matter Halo Model for Ultralight Axions
• Self-Interacting Superfluid Dark Matter Droplets
• Cosmological Simulations of Two-Component Wave Dark Matter
• Ultra-light axions and the kinetic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Effect
• Investigation of two colliding solitonic cores in Fuzzy Dark Matter models
• Gravitational waves from binary black holes in a self-interacting scalar dark matter cloud
• Supersonic friction of a black hole traversing a self-interacting scalar dark matter cloud
• Diluted Axion Star Collisions with Neutron Stars
• Scalar field dark matter with a cosh potential, revisited
• A review on radiation of oscillons and oscillatons
• Testing multiflavored ULDM models with SPARC
• Constraints on the dark sector from electroweak precision observables
• Bracketing the soliton-halo relation of ultralight dark matter
• Implications of multi-axion dark matter on structure formation
• Theory and phenomenology of stressed wave-dark-matter soliton
• Dark Matter Annihilation Feedback in Cosmological Simulations II: The Influence on Gas and Halo Structure
• Fuzzy dark matter simulations
• Interference in Fuzzy Dark Matter Filaments: Idealised Models and Statistics
• The Effective Field Theory of Large Scale Structures of a Fuzzy Dark Matter Universe
• Emulating the Non-Linear Matter Power-Spectrum in Mixed Axion Dark Matter Models
• Captured molecules could make a Bose star visible
• Rotation curves with the multistate Scalar Field Dark Matter model
• Density profile of multi-state fuzzy dark matter