Spatially Resolved Stellar Kinematics of the Ultra-diffuse Galaxy Dragonfly 44. II. Constraints on Fuzzy Dark Matter
Abstract
Given the absence of directly detected dark matter (DM) as weakly interacting massive particles, there is strong interest in the possibility that DM is an ultralight scalar field, here denoted as "fuzzy" DM. Ultra-diffuse galaxies, with the sizes of giant galaxies and the luminosities of dwarf galaxies, have a wide range of DM halo masses, thus providing new opportunities for exploring the connections between galaxies and their DM halos. Following up on new integral field unit spectroscopic observations and dynamics modeling of the DM-dominated ultra-diffuse galaxy Dragonfly 44 in the outskirts of the Coma Cluster, we present models of fuzzy DM constrained by the stellar dynamics of this galaxy. We infer a scalar field mass of ~3 x 10^(⁻²²) eV, consistent with other constraints from galaxy dynamics but in tension with constraints from Lyα forest power spectrum modeling. While we are unable to statistically distinguish between fuzzy DM and "normal" cold DM models, we find that the inferred properties of the fuzzy DM halo satisfy a number of predictions for halos in a fuzzy DM cosmology. In particular, we find good agreement with the predicted core size–halo mass relation and the predicted transition radius between the quantum pressure-dominated inner region and the outer halo region.
Additional Information
© 2019 The American Astronomical Society. Received 2019 May 23; revised 2019 August 26; accepted 2019 August 26; published 2019 November 11. We gratefully acknowledge the support of the National Science Foundation via grants AST-1312376, AST-1518294, AST-1613582, AST-1616598, and AST-1616710, as well as HST grant HST-GO-14643. A.J.R. was supported as a Research Corporation for Science Advancement Cottrell Scholar. D.A.F. thanks the ARC for funding via DP160101608. A.V. is supported by an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship. This work was supported by a NASA Keck PI Data Award, administered by the NASA Exoplanet Science Institute. Data presented herein were obtained at the W. M. Keck Observatory from telescope time allocated to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration through the agency's scientific partnership with the California Institute of Technology and the University of California. The Observatory was made possible by the generous financial support of the W. M. Keck Foundation. The authors wish to recognize and acknowledge the very significant cultural role and reverence that the summit of Maunakea has always had within the indigenous Hawaiian community. We are most fortunate to have the opportunity to conduct observations from this mountain. Facilities: Keck:II (KCWI) - , HST. - Software: NumPy (Walt et al. 2011), matplotlib (Hunter 2007), astropy (Astropy Collaboration et al. 2018), Julia (Bezanson et al. 2017), DifferntialEquations.jl (Rackauckas & Nie 2017).Attached Files
Published - Wasserman_2019_ApJ_885_155.pdf
Submitted - 1905.10373.pdf
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Additional details
- Eprint ID
- 99765
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20191111-081024601
- AST-1312376
- NSF
- AST-1518294
- NSF
- AST-1613582
- NSF
- AST-1616598
- NSF
- AST-1616710
- NSF
- HST-GO-14643
- NASA Hubble Fellowship
- Cottrell Scholar of Research Corporation
- DP160101608
- Australian Research Council
- NSF Graduate Research Fellowship
- W. M. Keck Foundation
- Created
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2019-11-12Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
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2021-11-16Created from EPrint's last_modified field