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Not so fuzzy: excluding FDM with sizes and stellar kinematics of ultra-faint dwarf galaxies

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arxiv 2203.05750 v2 pith:44ZR2DRA submitted 2022-03-11 astro-ph.CO astro-ph.GA

classification astro-ph.COastro-ph.GA
keywords darkmassmattergalaxiesobservationssizesstellarultra-faint
verification ladder T0 review T1 audit T2 compute T3 formal
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abstract

We use observations of ultra-faint dwarf (UFD) galaxies to constrain the particle mass of ultra-light dark matter. Potential fluctuations created by wave interference in virialized "fuzzy" dark matter (FDM) halos dynamically heat stellar orbits in UFDs, some of which exhibit velocity dispersions of $\lesssim$ 3 km/s and sizes $\lesssim$ 40 pc. Using simulations of FDM halos, and existing measurements of sizes and stellar radial velocities in Segue 1 and Segue 2 UFDs, we derive a lower limit on the dark matter particle mass of $m_{fdm} > 3\times 10^{-19}$ eV at 99% confidence, marginalized over host halo circular velocity. This constraint is conservative as it is derived under the assumption that soliton heating is negligible, and that no other sources of non-FDM dynamical heating of stars operate to increase velocity dispersion. It can potentially be strengthened by future spectroscopic observations of additional stars in ultra-faint galaxies and by tightening theoretical constraints on the soliton size-halo mass relation. However, even the current conservative lower limit on the FDM mass makes this model indistinguishable from Cold Dark Matter at the scales probed by existing astronomical observations.

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Forward citations

Cited by 7 Pith papers

Reviewed papers in the Pith corpus that reference this work. Sorted by Pith novelty score. Full citation record

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  4. Constraining Dark Photon Dark Matter with Radio Silence from Soliton Mergers around Supermassive Black Holes

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    Non-observation of radio bursts from soliton mergers around supermassive black holes constrains dark photon solitons to make up less than about 1% of dark matter, with future surveys reaching 0.2%.

  5. Updated bounds on ultra-light dark matter from the tiniest galaxies

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    If Ursa Major III/UNIONS 1 is a galaxy, ultra-light dark matter particles must be heavier than 8 x 10^-18 eV, the strongest such bound.

  6. Dark Matter Deficient Galaxies as Probes of Dark Matter

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    The separability condition εχ/εb ≤ μcrit/μi translates dark-matter-deficient galaxies into conditional constraints on dark-matter–baryon scattering, dissipative dark matter fractions, and fuzzy dark matter escape.

  7. Ultralight fuzzy dark matter review

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    A review of fuzzy dark matter that surveys the models, wave phenomenology, numerical methods, and current observational mass constraints of ultralight dark matter.

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