A Universal Density Profile for Dark and Luminous Matter? | Zendy

David Merritt | Zendy; Julio F. Navarro | Zendy; Aaron D. Ludlow | Zendy; Adrian Jenkins | Zendy

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A Universal Density Profile for Dark and Luminous Matter?

Author(s) -

David Merritt,

Julio F. Navarro,

Aaron D. Ludlow,

Adrian Jenkins

Publication year - 2005

Publication title -

the astrophysical journal

Language(s) - English

Resource type - Journals

SCImago Journal Rank - 2.376

H-Index - 489

eISSN - 1538-4357

pISSN - 0004-637X

DOI - 10.1086/430636

Subject(s) - astrophysics , dark matter , physics , halo , cuspy halo problem , galaxy , power law , luminosity , luminosity function , astronomy , dark matter halo , mathematics , statistics

We explore similarities in the luminosity distribution of early type galaxiesand the mass profiles of LCDM halos. The spatial structure of these systems maybe accurately described by a simple law where the logarithmic slope of theprojected density is a power law of radius; the Sersic law. We show that thislaw provides a significantly better fit than a three-parameter generalizationof the NFW profile and derive the best-fitting Sersic parameters for a set ofhigh-resolution LCDM halos spanning a wide range in mass. The mean Sersic nvalues are 3.0 for dwarf- and galaxy-sized halos and 2.4 for cluster-sizedhalos, similar to the values that characterize luminous elliptical galaxies. Wediscuss possible reasons why the same law should describe dark and luminoussystems that span a range of over seven decades in mass.Comment: 4 page

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