Several proposed models for dark matter posit the existence of self-interaction processes that can impact the shape of dark matter halos, making them more spherical than the ellipsoidal halos of collisionless dark matter. One method of probing the halo shapes, and thus the strength of the dark matter self-interaction, is by measuring the shape of the X-ray gas that traces the gravitational potential in relaxed elliptical galaxies. In this work we identify a sample of 11 relaxed, isolated elliptical galaxies and measure the ellipticity of the gravitating matter using X-ray images from the XMM-Newton and Chandra telescopes. We explore a variety of different mass configurations and find that the dark matter halos of these galaxies have ellipticities around $ε\approx 0.2-0.5$. While we find non-negligible scatter in the ellipticity distribution, our results are consistent with some degree of self-interaction at the scale of $σ/m \sim 1$ cm$^2$/g, yet they also remain compatible with a cold dark matter scenario. We additionally demonstrate how our results can be used to directly constrain specific dark matter models and discuss implications for current and future simulations of self-interacting dark matter models.
We investigate whether gradual dilution of the gas in some elliptical galaxies is the cause of a positive correlation between star formation rate (SFR) and gas-phase metallicity (Zg) at high stellar mass (M*) in the local Universe. To do this, two classes of massive (M* >= 10^10.5 Msun) galaxy are selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and the Munich semi-analytic model of galaxy formation, L-Galaxies. The first class is selected by high specific star formation rates (sSFR) and high Zg, and the second class by low sSFR and low Zg. These criteria roughly distinguish disc-dominant gal…
Recent studies have shown that massive elliptical galaxies have total mass density profiles within an effective radius that can be approximated as ρ_{tot}\propto r^{-γ'}, with mean slope <γ'>=2.08 \pm 0.03 and scatter σ_γ'=0.16 \pm 0.02. The small scatter of the slope (known as the bulge-halo conspiracy) is not generic in LCDM based models and therefore contains information about the galaxy formation process. We compute the distribution of γ' for LCDM-based models that reproduce the observed correlations between stellar mass, velocity dispersion, and effective radius of early-type galaxies in …
We analyze a sample of 23 supermassive elliptical galaxies (central velocity dispersion larger than 330 km s-1), drawn from the SDSS. For each object, we estimate the dynamical mass from the light profile and central velocity dispersion, and compare it with the stellar mass derived from stellar population models. We show that these galaxies are dominated by luminous matter within the radius for which the velocity dispersion is measured. We find that the sizes and stellar masses are tightly correlated, with Re ~ M*^{1.1}$, making the mean density within the de Vaucouleurs radius a steeply decli…
We report the detection of the CO J=1-0 emission line in [H89]1821+643, one of the most optically luminous QSOs in the local Universe and a template ULIRG-to-QSO transition object, located in a rich cool-core cluster at z=0.297. The CO emission is likely to be extended, highly asymmetric with respect to the center of the host elliptical where the QSO resides, and corresponds to a molecular gas mass of ~ 8.0 x 10^{9} M_sun. The dynamical mass enclosed by the CO line emission region could amount up to ~ 1.7x10^{12} M_sun (80% of the total mass of the elliptical host). The bulk of the CO emission…
Accurate measurements of the cosmic shear signal require a separation of the true weak gravitational lensing signal from intrinsic shape correlations of galaxies. These `intrinsic alignments' of galaxies originate from galaxy formation processes and are expected to be correlated with the gravitational field through tidal processes affecting the galaxies, such as tidal shearing for elliptical galaxies and tidal torquing for spiral galaxies. In this study, we use morphologically selected samples of elliptical and spiral galaxies from the IllustrisTNG simulation at z=0 and z=1 to test the commonl…
We examine the cosmic evolution of a stellar initial mass function (IMF) in galaxies that varies with the Jeans mass in the interstellar medium, paying particular attention to the K-band stellar mass to light ratio (M/L_K) of present-epoch massive galaxies. We calculate the typical Jeans mass using high-resolution hydrodynamic simulations coupled with a fully radiative model for the ISM, which yields a parameterisation of the IMF characteristic mass as a function of galaxy star formation rate (SFR). We then calculate the star formation histories of galaxies utilising an equilibrium galaxy grow…
The gravitational fields of two isolated ellipticals, NGC 720 and NGC 1521, have been recently measured to very large galactic radii (~100 and ~200 kpc), assuming hydrostatic balance of the hot gas enshrouding them. They afford, for the first time to my knowledge, testing MOND in ellipticals with force and quality that, arguably, approach those of rotation-curve tests in disk galaxies. In the context of MOND, it is noteworthy that the measured accelerations span a wide range, from more than 10a0 to about a0/10, unprecedented in individual ellipticals. I find that MOND predicts correctly the me…
Motivated by recent developments in our understanding of the formation and evolution of massive galaxies, we explore the detailed photometric structure of a representative sample of 94 bright, nearby elliptical galaxies, using high-quality optical images from the Carnegie-Irvine Galaxy Survey. The sample spans a range of environments and stellar masses, from M* = 10^{10.2} to 10^{12.0} solar mass. We exploit the unique capabilities of two-dimensional image decomposition to explore the possibility that local elliptical galaxies may contain photometrically distinct substructure that can shed lig…
The recently discovered apparent dramatic expansion in the effective radii of massive elliptical galaxies from $z \simeq 2$ to $z \simeq 0.1$ has been interpreted in terms of either galaxy mergers or the rapid loss of cold gas due to AGN feedback. In examining the latter case we have quantified the extent of the expansion, which is uncertain observationally, in terms of the star formation parameters and time of the expulsion of the cold gas. In either case, the large global decrease in stellar density should translate into a major drop in the ISM density and pressure, and a much steeper radial…
We investigate the possibility for the direct detection of low mass (GeV scale) WIMP dark matter in scintillation experiments. Such WIMPs are typically too light to leave appreciable nuclear recoils, but may be detected via their scattering off atomic electrons. In particular, the DAMA Collaboration [R. Bernabei et al., Nucl. Phys. At. Energy 19, 307 (2018)] has recently presented strong evidence of an annual modulation in the scintillation rate observed at energies as low as 1 keV. Despite a strong enhancement in the calculated event rate at low energies, we find that an interpretation in ter…
We present an inventory of galaxy bulge types (elliptical galaxy, classical bulge, pseudobulge, and bulgeless galaxy) in a volume-limited sample within the local 11 Mpc volume using Spitzer 3.6 micron and HST data. We find that whether counting by number, star formation rate, or stellar mass, the dominant galaxy type in the local universe has pure disk characteristics (either hosting a pseudobulge or being bulgeless). Galaxies that contain either a pseudobulge or no bulge combine to account for over 80% of the number of galaxies above a stellar mass of 10^9 M_sun. Classical bulges and elliptic…
Standard cosmology predicts that prior to matter-radiation equality about 41% of the energy density was in free-streaming neutrinos. In many beyond Standard Model scenarios, however, the amount and free-streaming nature of this component is modified. For example, this occurs in models with new neutrino self-interactions or an additional dark sector with interacting light particles. We consider several extensions of the standard cosmology that include a non-free-streaming radiation component as motivated by such particle physics models and use the final Planck data release to constrain them. Th…
Data from the Herschel Space Observatory have revealed an unusual elliptical galaxy, NGC 4125, which has strong and extended submillimeter emission from cold dust but only very strict upper limits to its CO and HI emission. Depending on the dust emissivity, the total dust mass is 2-5x10^6 Msun. While the neutral gas-to-dust mass ratio is extremely low (< 12-30), including the ionized gas traced by [CII] emission raises this limit to < 39-100. The dust emission follows a similar r^{1/4} profile to the stellar light and the dust to stellar mass ratio is towards the high end of what is found in n…
The paper deals with a theoretical model for interacting Tsallis holographic dark energy (THDE) whose infrared (IR) cut-off scale is set by the Hubble length. The interaction $Q$ between the dark sectors (dark energy and pressureless dark matter) of the universe has been assumed to be non-gravitational in nature. The functional form of $Q$ is chosen in such a way that it reproduces well known and most used interactions as special cases. We then study the nature of the THDE density parameter, the equation of state parameter, the deceleration parameter and the jerk parameter for this interacting…
We investigate how strong gravitational lensing can test contemporary models of massive elliptical (ME) galaxy formation, by combining a traditional decomposition of their visible stellar distribution with a lensing analysis of their mass distribution. As a proof of concept, we study a sample of three ME lenses, observing that all are composed of two distinct baryonic structures, a `red' central bulge surrounded by an extended envelope of stellar material. Whilst these two components look photometrically similar, their distinct lensing effects permit a clean decomposition of their mass structu…
In this paper we study implications of the possible excess of 21-cm line global signal at the epoch of cosmic dawn on the evolutions of a class of dynamically interacting dark energy (IDE) models. We firstly summarize two dynamical mechanisms in which different background evolutions can exert considerable effects on the 21-cm line global signal. One is the decoupling time of Compton scattering heating, the other stems from the direct change of optical depth due to the different expansion rate of the Universe. After that, we investigate the IDE models to illustrate the tension between the resul…
In the effort to define the main features a successful solution to the Hubble tension should have, growing evidence has emerged pointing to the need for models able to modify the expansion (and possibly thermal) history of the universe both prior and after recombination, and that could thereby restore the overall concordance between early- and late-time observations without introducing nor worsening other cosmological tensions in the process. In precisely this spirit, here we consider a multi-interacting dark energy model with two complementary interaction channels: one with the dark matter an…
We investigate the effect of feeble interaction of dark matter (DM) with hadronic matter on the equation of state (EoS) and structural properties of neutron stars (NSs) in static conditions. For the purpose we adopt the effective chiral model for the hadronic sector and for the first time in the context of possible existence of DM inside NSs, we introduce DM-SM interaction through light new physics mediator. Moreover, the mass of DM fermion, the mediator and the coupling are adopted from the self-interaction constraint from Bullet cluster and from present day relic abundance. Within the consid…
While the behavior of the dominant component of the dark matter is reasonably well established by cosmological observables, its particle nature and interactions with the rest of the matter are not known. We consider three dark matter models that admit electromagnetic interaction between baryons and dark matter: (a) milli-charged particle (CCDM) of charge $q_{\rm ccdm}$ and mass $m_{\rm ccdm}$, (b) a neutral atom of two charged particles of mass $m_{\rm dd}$ (DD), and (c) a neutral atom of doubly charged particle and helium nucleus (HeD). We derive and discuss in detail the formation, stability…
In order to understand the physical mechanisms at work during the formation of massive early-type galaxies, we performed six zoomed hydrodynamical cosmological simulations of halos in the mass range 4.3 10^12 < M_vir < 8.0 10^13 M_sun at z=0, using the Adaptive Mesh Refinement code RAMSES. These simulations explore the role of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN), through jets powered by the accretion onto supermassive black holes on the formation of massive elliptical galaxies. In the absence of AGN feedback, large amounts of stars accumulate in the central galaxies to form overly massive, blue, comp…
Implications of SARAS3 data for Coulomb-like interacting dark matter
Kavli Institute for Cosmology, University of Cambridge（剑桥大学卡弗里宇宙学研究所）；Tata Institute of Fundamental Research（塔塔基础研究院）；Department of Physics and Leinweber Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of Michigan（密歇根大学物理系和莱因韦伯理论物理研究所）；Indian Institute of Technology Bombay（印度孟买理工学院）；Raman Research Institute（拉曼研究所）
We study the mass and anisotropy distribution of the giant elliptical galaxy NGC 5846 using stars, as well as the red and blue globular cluster (GC) subpopulations. We break degeneracies in the dynamical models by taking advantage of the different phase space distributions of the two GC subpopulations to unambiguously constrain the mass of the galaxy and the anisotropy of the GC system. Red GCs show the same spatial distribution and behaviour as the starlight, whereas blue GCs have a shallower density profile, a larger velocity dispersion and a lower kurtosis, all of which suggest a different …
Implications of DESI for Dark Matter & Cosmic Birefringence
SRM University AP（SRM大学AP分校）；Tsung-Dao Lee Institute, Shanghai Jiao Tong University（上海交大李政道研究所）；School of Physics and Astronomy, Shanghai Jiao Tong University（上海交通大学物理与天文学院）
Stars formed in galaxy cluster potential wells must be responsible for the high level of enrichment measured in the intracluster medium (ICM); however, there is increasing tension between this truism and the parsimonious assumption that the stars in the generally old population studied optically in cluster galaxies emerged from the same formation sites at the same epochs. We construct a phenomenological cluster enrichment model to demonstrate that ICM elemental abundances are underestimated by a factor >2 for standard assumptions about the stellar population -- a discrepancy we term the "clust…
{Abridged} We show that the surface brightness (SB) profiles of elliptical galaxies can be parametrized using a linear superposition of 2-3 components, described by functions developed in Dhar & Williams as the 2D projections of a 3D Einasto profile. For a sample of 23 ellipticals with -24 < Mv < -15, our multi-component models span a range of up to 10^6 in SB and 10^5 in radius, have a median rms of 0.032 mag arcsec^-2, and are statistically justified at >3σ. Our models indicate that i) the central component is more concentrated than the outer component; and ii) the central component of 'core…
Arp 104 is a pair of luminous interacting galaxies consisting of NGC 5216, an elliptical, and NGC 5218, a disturbed disk galaxy and joined by a stellar bridge. We obtained optical imaging to support photometric and color studies of the system. NGC 5216 lies on the red sequence, while the unusual distribution of stellar population properties in combination with intense central star formation in a dusty region result in NGC 5218 being a nearby example of an intermediate color (green valley) system. The stellar bridge has remarkably uniform optical surface brightness, with colors consistent with …
