Density profiles of ultracompact minihalos: Implications for constraining the primordial power spectrum

TL;DR

This paper revises constraints on the primordial power spectrum by showing that realistic minihalo density profiles are shallower than previously assumed, leading to stronger bounds based on dark matter annihilation signals.

Contribution

It demonstrates that realistic minihalo density profiles are shallower than the previously assumed steep profiles, and provides updated constraints on the primordial power spectrum.

Findings

Shallower minihalo profiles are more common than the steep UCMH profile.

Updated constraints on the primordial power spectrum are stronger with the new minihalo model.

Realistic formation scenarios do not produce the $ ho ightarrow r^{-9/4}$ density profile.

Abstract

Enhanced density fluctuations on small scales would lead to the formation of numerous dark matter minihalos, so limits on the minihalo abundance can place upper bounds on the small-scale primordial power spectrum. In particular, the ultracompact minihalo (UCMH), a dark matter structure hypothesized to possess a $\rho\propto r^{-9/4}$ density profile due to its formation at $z\geq 1000$, has been used to establish an upper bound on the primordial power spectrum at scales smaller than 2 Mpc. The extreme slope of this density profile amplifies the observational signals of UCMHs. However, we recently showed via N-body simulations that the $\rho\propto r^{-9/4}$ density profile does not develop in realistic formation scenarios, throwing UCMH-derived power spectrum constraints into question. Instead, minihalos develop shallower inner profiles with power-law indices between $-3/2$ and $-1$. In this paper, we expand on that result and discuss its implications. Using a model that is calibrated to simulation results and predicts halo structures in spiked power spectra based on their formation times, we calculate new upper bounds on the primordial power spectrum based on limits on the dark matter annihilation rate within the Galaxy. We find that despite assuming shallower profiles, this minihalo model actually yields stronger constraints than the previous UCMH picture owing to its inclusion of all minihalos instead of only the earliest-forming ones.