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Navarro–Frenk–White Profile
The Navarro–Frenk–White (NFW) profile is a spatial mass distribution of dark matter fitted to dark matter halos identified in N-body simulations by Julio Navarro, Carlos Frenk and Simon White. The NFW profile is one of the most commonly used model profiles for dark matter halos. Density distribution In the NFW profile, the density of dark matter as a function of radius is given by: : \rho (r)=\frac where ''ρ''0 and the "scale radius", ''Rs'', are parameters which vary from halo to halo. The integrated mass within some radius ''R''max is : M=\int_0^ 4\pi r^2 \rho (r) \, dr=4\pi \rho_0 R_s^3 \left \ln\left(\frac\right)-\frac\right The total mass is divergent, but it is often useful to take the edge of the halo to be the virial radius, ''R''vir, which is related to the "concentration parameter", ''c'', and scale radius via : R_\mathrm=cR_s (Alternatively, one can define a radius at which the average density within this radius is \Delta times the critical or mean ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dark Matter
Dark matter is a hypothetical form of matter thought to account for approximately 85% of the matter in the universe. Dark matter is called "dark" because it does not appear to interact with the electromagnetic field, which means it does not absorb, reflect, or emit electromagnetic radiation and is, therefore, difficult to detect. Various astrophysical observationsincluding gravitational effects which cannot be explained by currently accepted theories of gravity unless more matter is present than can be seenimply dark matter's presence. For this reason, most experts think that dark matter is abundant in the universe and has had a strong influence on its structure and evolution. The primary evidence for dark matter comes from calculations showing that many galaxies would behave quite differently if they did not contain a large amount of unseen matter. Some galaxies would not have formed at all and others would not move as they currently do. Other lines of evidence include observa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thermodynamic Equilibrium
Thermodynamic equilibrium is an axiomatic concept of thermodynamics. It is an internal state of a single thermodynamic system, or a relation between several thermodynamic systems connected by more or less permeable or impermeable walls. In thermodynamic equilibrium, there are no net macroscopic flows of matter nor of energy within a system or between systems. In a system that is in its own state of internal thermodynamic equilibrium, no macroscopic change occurs. Systems in mutual thermodynamic equilibrium are simultaneously in mutual thermal, mechanical, chemical, and radiative equilibria. Systems can be in one kind of mutual equilibrium, while not in others. In thermodynamic equilibrium, all kinds of equilibrium hold at once and indefinitely, until disturbed by a thermodynamic operation. In a macroscopic equilibrium, perfectly or almost perfectly balanced microscopic exchanges occur; this is the physical explanation of the notion of macroscopic equilibrium. A thermodynamic sys ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cuspy Halo Problem
The cuspy halo problem (also known as the core-cusp problem) refers to a discrepancy between the inferred dark matter density profiles of low-mass galaxies and the density profiles predicted by cosmological N-body simulations. Nearly all simulations form dark matter halos which have "cuspy" dark matter distributions, with density increasing steeply at small radii, while the rotation curves of most observed dwarf galaxies suggest that they have flat central dark matter density profiles ("cores"). Several possible solutions to the core-cusp problem have been proposed. Many recent studies have shown that including baryonic feedback (particularly feedback from supernovae and active galactic nuclei) can "flatten out" the core of a galaxy's dark matter profile, since feedback-driven gas outflows produce a time-varying gravitational potential that transfers energy to the orbits of the collisionless dark matter particles. Other works have shown that the core-cusp problem can be solved outsi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Low-surface-brightness Galaxy
A low-surface-brightness galaxy, or LSB galaxy, is a diffuse galaxy with a surface brightness that, when viewed from Earth, is at least one magnitude lower than the ambient night sky. Most LSBs are dwarf galaxies, and most of their baryonic matter is in the form of neutral gaseous hydrogen, rather than stars. They appear to have over 95% of their mass as non-baryonic dark matter. There appears to be little supernova (SN) activity in these galaxies, although LSB galaxy IC 217 hosted 2014cl. Rotation curve measurements indicate an extremely high mass-to-light ratio, meaning that stars and luminous gas contribute only very little to the overall mass balance of an LSB. The centers of LSBs show no large overdensities in stars, unlike e.g. the bulges of normal spiral galaxies. Therefore, they seem to be dark-matter-dominated even in their centers, which makes them excellent laboratories for the study of dark matter. In comparison to the high-surface-brightness galaxies, LSBs are ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Andromeda Galaxy
The Andromeda Galaxy (IPA: ), also known as Messier 31, M31, or NGC 224 and originally the Andromeda Nebula, is a barred spiral galaxy with the diameter of about approximately from Earth and the nearest large galaxy to the Milky Way. The galaxy's name stems from the area of Earth's sky in which it appears, the constellation of Andromeda, which itself is named after the princess who was the wife of Perseus in Greek mythology. The virial mass of the Andromeda Galaxy is of the same order of magnitude as that of the Milky Way, at . The mass of either galaxy is difficult to estimate with any accuracy, but it was long thought that the Andromeda Galaxy is more massive than the Milky Way by a margin of some 25% to 50%. This has been called into question by a 2018 study that cited a lower estimate on the mass of the Andromeda Galaxy, combined with preliminary reports on a 2019 study estimating a higher mass of the Milky Way. The Andromeda Galaxy has a diameter of about , making it the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Milky Way
The Milky Way is the galaxy that includes our Solar System, with the name describing the galaxy's appearance from Earth: a hazy band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars that cannot be individually distinguished by the naked eye. The term ''Milky Way'' is a translation of the Latin ', from the Greek ('), meaning "milky circle". From Earth, the Milky Way appears as a band because its disk-shaped structure is viewed from within. Galileo Galilei first resolved the band of light into individual stars with his telescope in 1610. Until the early 1920s, most astronomers thought that the Milky Way contained all the stars in the Universe. Following the 1920 Great Debate between the astronomers Harlow Shapley and Heber Curtis, observations by Edwin Hubble showed that the Milky Way is just one of many galaxies. The Milky Way is a barred spiral galaxy with an estimated D25 isophotal diameter of , but only about 1,000 light years thick at the spiral arms (more at the bulg ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Einasto Profile
The Einasto profile (or Einasto model) is a mathematical function that describes how the density \rho of a spherical stellar system varies with distance r from its center. Jaan Einasto introduced his model at a 1963 conference in Alma-Ata, Kazakhstan. The Einasto profile possesses a power law logarithmic slope of the form: : \gamma(r) \equiv -\frac \propto r^ which can be rearranged to give : \rho(r) \propto \exp . The parameter \alpha controls the degree of curvature of the profile. This can be seen by computing the slope on a log-log plot: : d\ (\log\rho)/d\ (\log r) \propto -r^ . The larger \alpha, the more rapidly the slope varies with radius (see figure). Einasto's law can be described as a generalization of a power law, \rho\propto r^, which has a constant slope on a log-log plot. Einasto's model has the same mathematical form as Sersic's law, which is used to describe the surface brightness (i.e. projected density) profile of galaxies. Einasto's model has been used ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Virial Theorem
In mechanics, the virial theorem provides a general equation that relates the average over time of the total kinetic energy of a stable system of discrete particles, bound by potential forces, with that of the total potential energy of the system. Mathematically, the theorem states \left\langle T \right\rangle = -\frac12\,\sum_^N \bigl\langle \mathbf_k \cdot \mathbf_k \bigr\rangle where is the total kinetic energy of the particles, represents the force on the th particle, which is located at position , and angle brackets represent the average over time of the enclosed quantity. The word virial for the right-hand side of the equation derives from ''vis'', the Latin word for "force" or "energy", and was given its technical definition by Rudolf Clausius in 1870. The significance of the virial theorem is that it allows the average total kinetic energy to be calculated even for very complicated systems that defy an exact solution, such as those considered in statistical mechanics; thi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Collision
In physics, a collision is any event in which two or more bodies exert forces on each other in a relatively short time. Although the most common use of the word ''collision'' refers to incidents in which two or more objects collide with great force, the scientific use of the term implies nothing about the magnitude of the force. Some examples of physical interactions that scientists would consider collisions are the following: * When an insect lands on a plant's leaf, its legs are said to collide with the leaf. * When a cat strides across a lawn, each contact that its paws make with the ground is considered a collision, as well as each brush of its fur against a blade of grass. * When a boxer throws a punch, their fist is said to collide with the opponents body. * When an astronomical object merges with a black hole, they are considered to collide. Some colloquial uses of the word collision are the following: * A traffic collision involves at least one automobile. * A mid-air ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Friedmann Equations
The Friedmann equations are a set of equations in physical cosmology that govern the expansion of space in homogeneous and isotropic models of the universe within the context of general relativity. They were first derived by Alexander Friedmann in 1922 from Einstein's field equations of gravitation for the Friedmann–Lemaître–Robertson–Walker metric and a perfect fluid with a given mass density and pressure . (English translation: ). The original Russian manuscript of this paper is preserved in thEhrenfest archive The equations for negative spatial curvature were given by Friedmann in 1924. (English translation: ) Assumptions The Friedmann equations start with the simplifying assumption that the universe is spatially homogeneous and isotropic, that is, the cosmological principle; empirically, this is justified on scales larger than the order of 100 Mpc. The cosmological principle implies that the metric of the universe must be of the form : -\mathrms^2 = a(t)^2 \, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
N-body
In physics and astronomy, an ''N''-body simulation is a simulation of a dynamical system of particles, usually under the influence of physical forces, such as gravity (see ''n''-body problem for other applications). ''N''-body simulations are widely used tools in astrophysics, from investigating the dynamics of few-body systems like the Earth-Moon-Sun system to understanding the evolution of the large-scale structure of the universe. In physical cosmology, ''N''-body simulations are used to study processes of non-linear structure formation such as galaxy filaments and galaxy halos from the influence of dark matter. Direct ''N''-body simulations are used to study the dynamical evolution of star clusters. Nature of the particles The 'particles' treated by the simulation may or may not correspond to physical objects which are particulate in nature. For example, an N-body simulation of a star cluster might have a particle per star, so each particle has some physical significance ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Virial Theorem
In mechanics, the virial theorem provides a general equation that relates the average over time of the total kinetic energy of a stable system of discrete particles, bound by potential forces, with that of the total potential energy of the system. Mathematically, the theorem states \left\langle T \right\rangle = -\frac12\,\sum_^N \bigl\langle \mathbf_k \cdot \mathbf_k \bigr\rangle where is the total kinetic energy of the particles, represents the force on the th particle, which is located at position , and angle brackets represent the average over time of the enclosed quantity. The word virial for the right-hand side of the equation derives from ''vis'', the Latin word for "force" or "energy", and was given its technical definition by Rudolf Clausius in 1870. The significance of the virial theorem is that it allows the average total kinetic energy to be calculated even for very complicated systems that defy an exact solution, such as those considered in statistical mechanics; thi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
