Dynamical friction in self-interacting ultralight dark matter

Fuente: arXiv
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Hauptverfasser: Glennon, Noah, Musoke, Nathan, Nadler, Ethan O., Prescod-Weinstein, Chanda, Wechsler, Risa H.
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2023
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author Glennon, Noah
Musoke, Nathan
Nadler, Ethan O.
Prescod-Weinstein, Chanda
Wechsler, Risa H.
author_facet Glennon, Noah
Musoke, Nathan
Nadler, Ethan O.
Prescod-Weinstein, Chanda
Wechsler, Risa H.
contents We explore how dynamical friction in an ultralight dark matter (ULDM) background is affected by dark matter self-interactions. We calculate the force of dynamical friction on a point mass moving through a uniform ULDM background with self-interactions, finding that the force of dynamical friction vanishes for sufficiently strong repulsive self-interactions. Using the pseudospectral solver $\texttt{UltraDark.jl}$, we show with simulations that reasonable values of the ULDM self-interaction strength and particle mass cause $\mathcal{O}(1)$ differences in the acceleration of an object like a supermassive black hole (SMBH) traveling near the center of a soliton, relative to the case with no self-interactions. For example, repulsive self-interactions with $λ= 10^{-90}$ yield a deceleration due to dynamical friction $\approx70\%$ smaller than a model with no self-interactions. We discuss the observational implications of our results for SMBHs near soliton centers and for massive satellite galaxies falling into ultralight axion halos and show that outcomes are dependent on whether a self-interaction is present or not.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2312_07684
institution arXiv
publishDate 2023
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Dynamical friction in self-interacting ultralight dark matter
Glennon, Noah
Musoke, Nathan
Nadler, Ethan O.
Prescod-Weinstein, Chanda
Wechsler, Risa H.
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
85A40
We explore how dynamical friction in an ultralight dark matter (ULDM) background is affected by dark matter self-interactions. We calculate the force of dynamical friction on a point mass moving through a uniform ULDM background with self-interactions, finding that the force of dynamical friction vanishes for sufficiently strong repulsive self-interactions. Using the pseudospectral solver $\texttt{UltraDark.jl}$, we show with simulations that reasonable values of the ULDM self-interaction strength and particle mass cause $\mathcal{O}(1)$ differences in the acceleration of an object like a supermassive black hole (SMBH) traveling near the center of a soliton, relative to the case with no self-interactions. For example, repulsive self-interactions with $λ= 10^{-90}$ yield a deceleration due to dynamical friction $\approx70\%$ smaller than a model with no self-interactions. We discuss the observational implications of our results for SMBHs near soliton centers and for massive satellite galaxies falling into ultralight axion halos and show that outcomes are dependent on whether a self-interaction is present or not.
title Dynamical friction in self-interacting ultralight dark matter
topic Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
85A40
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2312.07684