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Galaxy Formation with BECDM: I. Turbulence and relaxation of idealised haloes

11 Pith papers cite this work. Polarity classification is still indexing.

11 Pith papers citing it
abstract

We present a theoretical analysis of some unexplored aspects of relaxed Bose-Einstein condensate dark matter (BECDM) haloes. This type of ultralight bosonic scalar field dark matter is a viable alternative to the standard cold dark matter (CDM) paradigm, as it makes the same large-scale predictions as CDM and potentially overcomes CDM's small-scale problems via a galaxy-scale de Broglie wavelength. We simulate BECDM halo formation through mergers, evolved under the Schr\"odinger-Poisson equations. The formed haloes consist of a soliton core supported against gravitational collapse by the quantum pressure tensor and an asymptotic $r^{-3}$ NFW-like profile. We find a fundamental relation of the core=to-halo mass with the dimensionless invariant $\Xi \equiv \lvert E \rvert/M^3/(Gm/\hbar)^2$ or $M_{\rm c}/M \simeq 2.6 \Xi^{1/3}$, linking the soliton to global halo properties. For $r \geq 3.5 \,r_{\rm c}$ core radii, we find equipartition between potential, classical kinetic, and quantum gradient energies. The haloes also exhibit a conspicuous turbulent behavior driven by the continuous reconnection of vortex lines due to wave interference. We analyse the turbulence 1D velocity power spectrum and find a $k^{-1.1}$ power-law. This suggests the vorticity in BECDM haloes is homogeneous, similar to thermally-driven counterflow BEC systems from condensed matter physics, in contrast to a $k^{-5/3}$ Kolmogorov power-law seen in mechanically-driven quantum systems. The mode where the power spectrum peaks is approximately the soliton width, implying the soliton-sized granules carry most of the turbulent energy in BECDM haloes.

years

2026 10 2024 1

representative citing papers

A No-Go Theorem for the Mass-Radius Relation of Solitons

astro-ph.CO · 2026-05-21 · unverdicted · novelty 7.0

A no-go theorem excludes Gamma in [0,d] for typical non-topological non-relativistic spherically symmetric solitons, with the same exclusion for barotropic fluid compact objects, ruling out natural soliton explanations for observed dark matter halo cores with Gamma ~1.7.

Halo mass functions in mixed cold and fuzzy dark matter models

astro-ph.CO · 2026-06-04 · unverdicted · novelty 5.0

Simulations show fuzzy dark matter fraction up to 0.3 suppresses low-mass halos in mixed DM models, and a redshift- and fraction-dependent suppression function maps CDM HMFs to MDM HMFs within 0.1-0.2 dex accuracy for z=1-4.

Gravitational Wave Birefringence from Fuzzy Dark Matter

gr-qc · 2024-06-19 · unverdicted · novelty 5.0

Fuzzy dark matter induces frequency-dependent amplitude birefringence in gravitational waves with periodic time modulation set by the scalar mass, but no velocity birefringence.

Tidal Heating of Stellar Clusters in Fuzzy Dark Matter Halos

astro-ph.CO · 2026-04-29 · unverdicted · novelty 5.0

Simulations reveal tidal heating dominates stellar cluster evolution in low-mass fuzzy dark matter halos, suppressed by reduced soliton mass and tidal stripping, so halo structure must be modeled to constrain the fuzzy dark matter particle mass.

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