The structure and evolution of weakly self-interacting cold dark matter halos

Abstract

The evolution of halos consisting of weakly self-interacting dark matter particles is investigated using a new numerical Monte-Carlo N-body method. The halos initially contain kinematically cold, dense 1/r-power-law cores. For interaction cross sections (sigma/mp) >= 10-100 cm**2/g weak self-interaction leads to the formation of isothermal, constant density cores within a Hubble time as a result of heat transfer into the cold inner regions. This core structure is in good agreement with the observations of dark matter rotation curves in dwarf galaxies. The isothermal core radii and core densities are a function of the halo scale radii and scale masses which depend on the cosmological model. Adopting the currently popular LCDM model, the predicted core radii and core densities are on good agreement with the observations. For large interaction cross sections, massive dark halos with scale radii rs >= 14000 cm**2/g/(sigma/mp) kpc could experience core collapse during their lifetime, leading to cores with singular isothermal density profiles.