The dark matter halos of dwarf galaxies: a challenge for the LCDM paradigm?

TL;DR

This paper examines whether dwarf galaxy rotation curves align with LCDM predictions, revealing significant discrepancies that challenge current dark matter and galaxy formation models, suggesting the need for new theories or paradigm shifts.

Contribution

It provides observational evidence that many dwarf galaxies have enclosed masses incompatible with standard LCDM expectations, highlighting a major challenge to the paradigm.

Findings

Nearly half of the studied dwarf galaxies have lower enclosed masses than predicted by LCDM.

Many dwarfs appear to reside in halos with masses below 10^10 M_sun, contrary to assumptions.

Standard baryonic effects are unlikely to explain the low dark matter content in these faint systems.

Abstract

The cold dark matter halo mass function is much steeper than the galaxy stellar mass function on galactic and subgalactic scales. This difference is usually reconciled by assuming that the galaxy formation efficiency drops sharply with decreasing halo mass, so that virtually no dwarf galaxies form in halos less massive than ~ 10^10 M_sun. In turn, this implies that, at any given radius, the dark mass enclosed by a galaxy must exceed a certain minimum. We use rotation curves of dwarf galaxies compiled from the literature to explore whether their enclosed mass is consistent with these constraints. We find that almost one half of the dwarfs in our sample with stellar mass between 10^6-10^7 M_sun are at odds with this restriction: either they live in halos with masses substantially below 10^10 M_sun or there is a mechanism capable of reducing the dark mass enclosed by some of the faintest dwarfs. Neither possibility is easily accommodated within the standard LCDM scenario. Extending galaxy formation to halos well below 10^10 M_sun would lead to large numbers of dwarf galaxies in excess of current estimates; at the same time, the extremely low stellar mass of the systems involved makes it unlikely that baryonic effects can reduce their dark matter content. Resolving this challenge seems to require new insights into dwarf galaxy formation, or perhaps a radical revision of the prevailing paradigm.