Cosmological particle-in-cell simulations with ultralight axion dark matter

We study cosmological structure formation with ultralight axion dark matter, or “fuzzy dark matter” (FDM), using a particle-mesh scheme to account for the quantum pressure arising in the Madelung formulation of the Schrödinger-Poisson equations. Subpercent-level energy conservation and correct linea...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physical review. D 2016-12, Vol.94 (12), Article 123523
Main Authors: Veltmaat, Jan, Niemeyer, Jens C.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Computer simulation
Dark matter
Energy conservation
Finite element method
Initial conditions
Particle in cell technique
Pressure effects
Schrodinger equation
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:We study cosmological structure formation with ultralight axion dark matter, or “fuzzy dark matter” (FDM), using a particle-mesh scheme to account for the quantum pressure arising in the Madelung formulation of the Schrödinger-Poisson equations. Subpercent-level energy conservation and correct linear behavior are demonstrated. Whereas the code gives rise to the same core-halo profiles as direct simulations of the Schrödinger equation, it does not reproduce the detailed interference patterns. In cosmological simulations with FDM initial conditions, we find a maximum relative difference of O(10%) in the power spectrum near the quantum Jeans length compared to using a standard N-body code with identical initial conditions. This shows that the effect of quantum pressure during nonlinear structure formation cannot be neglected for precision constraints on a dark matter component consisting of ultralight axions.
ISSN:2470-0010
2470-0029
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevD.94.123523