Oscillations and Random Walk of the Soliton Core in a Fuzzy Dark Matter Halo

Abstract

A Fuzzy Dark Matter (FDM) halo consists of a soliton core close to the center and an NFW-like density profile in the outer region. Previous investigations found that the soliton core exhibits temporal oscillations and random walk excursions around the halo center. Analyzing a set of numerical simulations, we show that both phenomena can be understood as the results of wave interference -- a suitable superposition of the ground (solitonic) state and excited states in a fixed potential suffices to account for the main features of these phenomena. Such an eigenmode analysis can shed light on the evolution of a satellite halo undergoing tidal disruption. As the outer halo is stripped away, reducing the amplitudes of the excited states, the ground state evolves adiabatically. This suggests diminished soliton oscillations and random walk excursions, an effect to consider in deducing constraints from stellar heating.

9 pages, 12 figures

References in corpus (5)

• Ultralight scalars as cosmological dark matter
• Cosmic Structure as the Quantum Interference of a Coherent Dark Wave
• Understanding the Core-Halo Relation of Quantum Wave Dark Matter, $\psi$DM, from 3D Simulations
• Primordial Black Hole Dark Matter and the LIGO/Virgo observations
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• Multifield Ultralight Dark Matter
• On the Dynamical Heating of Dwarf Galaxies in a Fuzzy Dark Matter Halo
• Can ultralight dark matter explain the age-velocity dispersion relation of the Milky Way disc: A revised and improved treatment
• Analytical approach to core-halo structure of fuzzy dark matter
• Construction and evolution of equilibrium configurations of the Schrödinger-Poisson system in the Madelung frame
• Exploration of simple scenarios involving Fuzzy Dark Matter cores and gas at local scales
• Resonant phenomena in finite motions of test particles in oscillating dark matter configurations
• Temporal Correlations Between Fuzzy Dark Matter and Baryonic Matter in Virialized Core-Halo Structures
• Effects of New Forces on Scalar Dark Matter Solitons