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Testing the Caustic Ring Dark Matter Halo Model Against Observations in the Milky Way

Julie Dumas, Vanderbilt
Thursday, October 26, 2017 - 4:00pm to 5:00pm
PAA A-102

​A prediction of axion dark matter models is they can form Bose-Einstein condensates and rigid caustic rings as a halo collapses in the non-linear regime. In this talk, I will present results from the first study of the caustic ring model for the Milky Way halo (Duffy & Sikivie 2008), focusing on observational consequences. I will describe the formalism for calculating the gravitational acceleration of a caustic ring halo. The caustic ring dark matter theory reproduces a roughly logarithmic halo, with large perturbations near the rings. I will show that this halo can reasonably match the known Galactic rotation curve. We explored the effects of dark matter caustic rings on dwarf galaxy tidal disruption with N-body simulations. N-body simulations of the Sagittarius (Sgr) dwarf galaxy in a caustic ring halo potential, with disk and bulge parameters that are tuned to match the Galactic rotation curve, match observations of the Sgr trailing tidal tails as far as 90 kpc from the Galactic center. Like the Navarro-Frenk-White (NFW) halo, they are, however, unable to match the leading tidal tail. None of the caustic, NFW, or triaxial logarithmic halos are able to simultaneously match observations of the leading and trailing arms of the Sagittarius stream. I will further show that simulations of dwarf galaxies that move through caustic rings are qualitatively similar to those moving in a logarithmic halo.A

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