Discover More: Astrophysicists simulate a fuzzy dark matter galactic halo

Astrophysicists simulate a 

fuzzy dark matter 

galactic halo

Date Posted: 2nd June 2022




Dark matter is a type of matter in the universe that does not absorb, reflect or emit light, which makes it impossible to directly detect. 

One of the most promising candidates for dark matter is "fuzzy dark matter" a hypothetical form of dark matter that is thought to consist of extremely light scalar particles. This type of matter is known to be difficult to simulate, due to its unique characteristics.

Researchers have recently proposed a new method that could be used to simulate the fuzzy dark matter forming a galactic halo.
A galactic halo is an extended, roughly spherical component of a galaxy which extends beyond the main, visible component.

Using their adapted algorithm, the researchers were able to simulate the collapse of the cosmos web into filaments and halos. 
The cosmic web is the building block of the cosmos - consisting primarily of dark matter and laced with gas -- on which galaxies are built.

This was achieved using the so-called "n-body method," which divides the "initial density field" into small particles that freely evolve under the force of gravity.

They then switched to another algorithm - the finite difference method, which directly evolves the fuzzy dark matter wave function and can thus capture its interfering modes yielding the characteristic granular density fluctuations.

Scientists had never combined the n-body and finite difference methods earlier. However, now they did combine them in order to perform their simulations.

The method they used promotes the n-body particles to coherent wave packages known as "Gaussian beams." The superposition of these elements led to a fuzzy dark matter wave function at their intersection, which ultimately allowed them to perform their simulations.

Source: phys.org 

Read More: Click here! (On phys.org)

Citation:

Fadelli, I. (2022, May 30). Astrophysicists simulate a fuzzy dark matter galactic halo. Phys.org; Phys.org. https://phys.org/news/2022-05-astrophysicists-simulate-fuzzy-dark-galactic.html


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