On the correlation between the local dark matter and stellar velocities

Bozorgnia, Nassim; Fattahi, Azadeh; Cerdeño, David G.; Frenk, Carlos S.; Gómez, Facundo A.; Grand, Robert J.J.; Marinacci, Federico; Pakmor, Rüdiger

Abstract

The dark matter velocity distribution in the Solar neighbourhood is an important astrophysical input which enters in the predicted event rate of dark matter direct detection experiments. It has been recently suggested that the local dark matter velocity distribution can be inferred from that of old or metal-poor stars in the Milky Way. We investigate this potential relation using six high resolution magneto-hydrodynamical simulations of Milky Way-like galaxies of the Auriga project. We do not find any correlation between the velocity distributions of dark matter and old stars in the Solar neighbourhood. Likewise, there are no strong correlations between the local velocity distributions of dark matter and metal-poor stars selected by applying reasonable cuts on metallicity. In some simulated galaxies, extremely metal-poor stars have a velocity distribution that is statistically consistent with that of the dark matter, but the sample of such stars is so small that we cannot draw any strong conclusions.

Citation

Bozorgnia, N., Fattahi, A., Cerdeño, D. G., Frenk, C. S., Gómez, F. A., Grand, R. J., …Pakmor, R. (2019). On the correlation between the local dark matter and stellar velocities. Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, 2019(06), Article 045. https://doi.org/10.1088/1475-7516/2019/06/045

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jun 11, 2019
• Online Publication Date: Jun 21, 2019
• Publication Date: Jun 30, 2019
• Deposit Date: Aug 1, 2019
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 21, 2020
• Journal: Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
• Publisher: IOP Publishing
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 2019
• Issue: 06
• Article Number: 045
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1088/1475-7516/2019/06/045