Issue |
EPJ Web of Conferences
Volume 19, 2012
Assembling the Puzzle of the Milky Way
|
|
---|---|---|
Article Number | 01009 | |
Number of page(s) | 2 | |
Section | Dark Matter Question: Milky Way Meets Lambda-CDM Cosmology | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/epjconf/20121901009 | |
Published online | 07 February 2012 |
https://doi.org/10.1051/epjconf/20121901009
The shape of dark matter haloes in the Aquarius simulations: Evolution and memory
1 Kapteyn Astronomical Institute, Univ. of Groningen, P.O. Box 800, 9700 AV Groningen, The Netherlands
2 Max-Plank-Institut für Astrophysik, Karl-Schwarzschild-Straße, 1, 85740 Garching bei München, Germany
a e-mail: cavera@astro.rug.nl
We use the high resolution cosmological N-body simulations from the Aquarius project to investigate in detail the mechanisms that determine the shape of Milky Way-type dark matter haloes. We find that, when measured at the instantaneous virial radius, the shape of individual haloes changes with time, evolving from a typically prolate configuration at early stages to a more triaxial/oblate geometry at the present day. This evolution in halo shape correlates well with the distribution of the infalling material: prolate configurations arise when haloes are fed through narrow filaments, which characterizes the early epochs of halo assembly, whereas triaxial/oblate configurations result as the accretion turns more isotropic at later times. Interestingly, at redshift z = 0, clear imprints of the past history of each halo are recorded in their shapes at different radii, which also exhibit a variation from prolate in the inner regions to triaxial/oblate in the outskirts. Provided that the Aquarius haloes are fair representatives of Milky Way-like 1012M☉ objects, we conclude that the shape of such dark matter haloes is a complex, time-dependent property, with each radial shell retaining memory of the conditions at the time of collapse.
© Owned by the authors, published by EDP Sciences, 2012
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