Cold dark matter haloes in the Planck era: evolution of structural parameters for Einasto and NFW profiles

2014/02/28 by Aaron A. Dutton, Andrea V. Macciò · 962 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy #Astrophysics #Cold dark matter #Cosmology #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena #Dark matter #Dark matter halo #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Galaxy #Galaxy formation and evolution #Halo #Physics #astro-ph.CO

paper · pdf · doi:10.1093/mnras/stu742

published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 441(4), 3359-3374 (Oxford University Press) · 18 pages, 18 figures, accepted to MNRAS, minor changes to previous version

arxiv created 2014/04/29 · openalex publication_date 2014/05/31 · arxiv updated 2015/06/18 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/09

Abstract

We present the evolution of the structure of relaxed cold dark matter (CDM) haloes in the cosmology from the Planck satellite. Our simulations cover five decades in halo mass, from dwarf galaxies to galaxy clusters. Because of the increased matter density and power spectrum normalization the concentration–mass relation in the Planck cosmology has a ∼20 per cent higher normalization at redshift z = 0 compared to Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe cosmology. We confirm that CDM haloes are better described by the Einasto profile; for example, at scales near galaxy half-light radii CDM haloes have significantly steeper density profiles than implied by Navarro–Frenk–White (NFW) fits. There is a scatter of ∼0.2 dex in the Einasto shape parameter at fixed halo mass, adding further to the diversity of CDM halo profiles. The evolution of the concentration–mass relation in our simulations is not reproduced by any of the analytic models in the literature. We thus provide a simple fitting formula that accurately describes the evolution between redshifts z = 5 and 0 for both NFW and Einasto fits. Finally, the observed concentrations and halo masses of spiral galaxies, groups and clusters of galaxies at low redshifts are in good agreement with our simulations, suggesting only mild halo response to galaxy formation on these scales.

Citations

• Halos and galaxies in the standard cosmological model: results from the Bolshoi simulation
• First‐Year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe ( WMAP ) Observations: Determination of Cosmological Parameters
• Planck2013 results. XVI. Cosmological parameters
• Simulations of the formation, evolution and clustering of galaxies and quasars
• Quantifying the heart of darkness with GHALO – a multibillion particle simulation of a galactic halo
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• The inner structure of ΛCDM haloes - III. Universality and asymptotic slopes
• FIVE-YEARWILKINSON MICROWAVE ANISOTROPY PROBEOBSERVATIONS: COSMOLOGICAL INTERPRETATION
• The DiskMass Survey

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