CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 945Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, PhenomenaDark Matter and Cosmic PhenomenaCosmology and Gravitation Theories

Response of Dark Matter Halos to Condensation of Baryons: Cosmological Simulations and Improved Adiabatic Contraction Model

Open access
Gnedin, Oleg Y., Kravtsov, Andrey V., Klypin, Anatoly A., Nagai, Daisuke·2004·The Astrophysical Journal
DOI 10.1086/424914
Open this paper in CoChat — free accountOpen PDF

Abstract

The cooling of gas in the centers of dark matter halos is expected to lead to a more concentrated dark matter distribution. The response of dark matter to the condensation of baryons is usually calculated using the model of adiabatic contraction, which assumes spherical symmetry and circular orbits. In contrast, halos in the hierarchical structure formation scenarios grow via multiple violent mergers and accretion along filaments, and particle orbits in the halos are highly eccentric. We study the effects of the cooling of gas in the inner regions of halos using high-resolution cosmological simulations that include gas dynamics, radiative cooling, and star formation. We find that the dissipation of gas indeed increases the density of dark matter and steepens its radial profile in the inner regions of halos compared to the case without cooling. For the first time, we test the adiabatic contraction model in cosmological simulations and find that the standard model systematically overpredicts the increase of dark matter density in the inner 5% of the virial radius. We show that the model can be improved by a simple modification of the assumed invariant from M ( r ) r to M ( ) r , where r and are the current and orbit-averaged particle positions. This modification approximately accounts for orbital eccentricities of particles and reproduces simulation profiles to within 10%-20%. We present analytical fitting functions that accurately describe the transformation of the dark matter profile in the modified model and can be used for interpretation of observations.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1086/424914

Cites

85 of 85 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Other simpler adiabatic contraction approximations (Blumenthal et al. 1986; Gnedin et al. 2004) tend systematically to under- or overpredict the halo contraction.

    “Other simpler adiabatic contraction approximations, such as those used by Blumenthal et al. (1986) and Gnedin et al. (2004), tend systematically to under- or overpredict the halo contraction (e.g. Abadi et al. 2010; Duffy et al. 2010; Pedrosa et al. 2010; Dutton et al. 2016; Artale et al. 2019).”

    From The milky way total mass profile as inferred from Gaia DR2 (2020) · cites this paper as Gnedin et al. 2004

  • Baryons can cause a DM halo to contract, as known for a long time and confirmed by many subsequent studies.

    “That baryons can cause a DM halo to contract has been known for a long time (Blumenthal et al. 1986; Barnes 1987), and this has been confirmed by many subsequent studies”

    From The milky way total mass profile as inferred from Gaia DR2 (2020) · cites this paper as Gnedin et al. 2004

  • That non-linear relation roughly agrees with the Blumenthal et al. (1986) and Gnedin et al. (2004) adiabatic contraction approximations, although systematic deviations at the 10% level are found.

    “and that roughly agrees with the Blumenthal et al. (1986) and Gnedin et al. (2004) adiabatic contraction approximations, although we do find systematic deviations at the 10% level.”

    From The milky way total mass profile as inferred from Gaia DR2 (2020) · cites this paper as Gnedin et al. (2004)

  • The assumption of spherical symmetry is unlikely to affect the results because the baryonic distribution leads to a roughly spherical DM distribution in the inner regions r ≲ 20 kpc, where the best quality rotation curve data exist.

    “This simplification is unlikely to affect our results since the baryonic distribution leads to a roughly spherical DM distribution in the inner regions, i.e. for r ≲ 20 kpc , which is the region where the best quality rotation curve data exists”

    From The milky way total mass profile as inferred from Gaia DR2 (2020) · cites this paper as Gnedin et al. 2004

    Section 3 studies spherically averaged density profiles, but does not say that baryons make the inner dark-matter distribution roughly spherical. Section 4.1 instead lists nonspherical mass distributions as a possible source of model error. No passage found supports the claimed negligible effect of the symmetry assumption within 20 kpc or the statement about rotation-curve data (searched: spherical symmetry, inner halo shape, 20 kpc, rotation curves). (LLM, conf=0.74)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 6

  1. Binney, J., & Tremaine, S. 1987, Galactic Dynamics ( Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press)
  2. de Blok, W. J. G. 2004, in Proc. IAU Symp. 220, Dark Matter in Galaxies, ed.
  3. Kravtsov, A. V. 1999, Ph.D. thesis, New Mexico State Univ.
  4. Mamon, G. A., & xokas, E. L. 2004, MNRAS, submitted (astro-ph/0405466) · arXiv
  5. Nipoti, C., Treu, T., Ciotti, L., & Stiavelli, M. 2004, MNRAS, in press (astro-ph/ 0404127)
  6. Reed, D., Governato, F., Verde, L., Gardner, J., Quinn, T., Stadel, J., Merritt, D., & Lake, G. 2004, MNRAS, submitted (astro-ph/0312544) · arXiv

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Authors
Gnedin, O. Y., Kravtsov, A. V., Klypin, A. A., & Nagai, D.
Affiliations
  • Space Telescope Science Institute (US)
  • University of Chicago (US)
  • New Mexico State University (US)
ORCID
Venue
The Astrophysical Journal
Publisher
American Astronomical Society
Published
2004-11-20
Volume
616
Issue
1
Pages
16-26
ISSN
  • 0004-637X (ISSN-L)
  • 1538-4357
DOI
10.1086/424914
OpenAlex
W1970170972
Cited by
945
References
85
Citations by year
2026: 20 · 2025: 38 · 2024: 36 · 2023: 30 · 2022: 36 · 2021: 40 · 2020: 33 · 2019: 30 · 2018: 32 · 2017: 34 · 2016: 48 · 2015: 49 · 2014: 54 · 2013: 48 · 2012: 80
FWCI
23.62
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • The Astrophysical Journal (publishedVersion)
  • arXiv (Cornell University) (submittedVersion)
  • CERN Document Server (European Organization for Nuclear Research) (submittedVersion)
  • arXiv (Cornell University)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena
  • Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Nuclear and High Energy Physics › Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena
  • Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Cosmology and Gravitation Theories
Keywords
dark matter halos, gas cooling, halo density profiles, orbital eccentricity, hierarchical structure formation, halo mergers, radiative cooling, star formation, dark matter subhalos

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review