Extending the unified subhalo model to warm dark matter

TL;DR

This paper extends a unified subhalo model to warm dark matter, predicting subhalo distributions and mass functions using high-resolution simulations, highlighting key differences from cold dark matter scenarios.

Contribution

The authors develop a generalized model that accurately predicts WDM subhalo properties, incorporating the effects of the initial power spectrum cutoff and tidal stripping.

Findings

WDM subhalo mass function is scale-dependent at low masses.

WDM subhaloes are more susceptible to tidal disruption.

Radial distribution of WDM subhaloes varies with mass.

Abstract

Using a set of high-resolution N-body simulations, we extend the unified distribution model of cold dark matter (CDM) subhaloes to the warm dark matter(WDM) case. The same model framework combining the unevolved mass function, unevolved radial distribution, and tidal stripping can predict the mass function and spatial distribution of subhaloes in both CDM and WDM simulations. The dependence of the model on the DM particle property is universally parameterized through the half-mode mass of the initial power spectrum. Compared with the CDM model, the WDM model differs most notably in two aspects. 1) In contrast to the power-law form in CDM, the unevolved subhalo mass function for WDM is scale-dependent at the low mass end due to the cut-off in the initial power spectrum. 2) WDM subhaloes are more vulnerable to tidal stripping and disruption due to their lower concentrations at accretion time. Their survival rate is also found to depend on the infall mass. Accounting for these differences, the model predicts a final WDM subhalo mass function that is also proportional to the unevolved subhalo mass function. The radial distribution of WDM subhaloes is predicted to be mass-dependent. For low mass subhaloes, the radial distribution is flatter in the inner halo and steeper in the outer halo compared to the CDM counterpart, due to the scale-dependent unevolved mass function and the enhanced tidal stripping. The code for sampling subhaloes according to our generalized model is available at https://github.com/fhtouma/subgen2 .