Speaker
Description
Understanding the distribution of dark matter (DM) within a few kpc of the Milky Way's center is critical for interpreting and projecting indirect detection signals. Some studies use the inner DM profile directly from hydrodynamic cosmological simulations; however, differences in baryonic physics prescriptions can significantly affect the resulting DM profiles. In this talk, I will quantify the impact of the various baryonic physics implementations by modeling the DM profile in FIRE-2, Auriga, Vintergatan, and Illustris TNG50 using the adiabatic contraction algorithm from Gnedin et al.2004. We find that FIRE-2's stellar feedback dominates over baryonic contraction, while the other simulations are well described by adiabatic contraction. Using models calibrated to simulations and the observed stellar profile in the Milky Way, we provide a theoretical bound on the inner DM distribution in our Galaxy, setting a new standard for DM direct detection analyses and a departure from the overuse of unphysical profiles.
| References | https://arxiv.org/abs/2501.14868 |
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