Novel density profile for isothermal cores of dark matter halos

Abstract

We present a novel analytic density profile for halos in self-interacting dark matter (SIDM) models, which accurately captures the isothermal-core configuration, i.e. where both the density and velocity dispersion profiles exhibit central plateaus in the halo innermost region. Importantly, the profile retains a simple and tractable functional form. We demonstrate analytically how our density profile satisfies the aforementioned conditions, with comparisons to other contemporary functional choices. We further validate the profile using idealized N-body simulations, showing that it provides excellent representations of both the density and velocity dispersion profiles across a broad range of evolutionary stages, from the early thermalization phase to the late core-collapse regime. As a result of its accuracy and simplicity, the proposed profile offers a robust framework for analyzing halo evolution in a variety of SIDM scenarios. It also holds practical utility in reducing simulation needs and in generating initial conditions for simulations targeting the deep core-collapse regime.

9 pages, 5 figures, 1 table

Cited by in corpus (4)

• Supermassive black hole in NGC 4649 (M60) with a dark matter halo: Impact on shadow measurements and thermodynamic properties
• Time delay measurements with Broken Power Law model
• Shadows and photon spheres of static black holes embedded in a Dehnen-(1,4,5/2)-type dark matter halo with a quintessential field
• Role of prompt cusps in driving the core collapse of SIDM halos