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

Abstract

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${\text{cm}}^2{\text{g}}^{-1}$, 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.

Title changed and minor modifications to text; matches version published in ApJ

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• Cosmological and idealized simulations of dark matter haloes with velocity-dependent, rare and frequent self-interactions
• Astrophysical Tests of Dark Matter Self-Interactions
• The orbital evolution of UFDs and GCs in an evolving Galactic potential
• Testing self-interacting dark matter with galaxy warps
• Calibrating galaxy formation effects in galactic tests of fundamental physics
• Hint of dark matter-dark energy interaction in DESI DR2 and current cosmological dataset?