The browser you are using is not supported by this website. All versions of Internet Explorer are no longer supported, either by us or Microsoft (read more here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/windows/end-of-ie-support).

Please use a modern browser to fully experience our website, such as the newest versions of Edge, Chrome, Firefox or Safari etc.

Oscar Agertz. Profile photo.

Oscar Agertz

Associate Professor / Senior university lecturer / Wallenberg Academy Fellow

Oscar Agertz. Profile photo.

The stellar mass-halo mass relation of isolated field dwarfs : A critical test of ΛCDM at the edge of galaxy formation

Author

  • J. I. Read
  • G. Iorio
  • O. Agertz
  • F. Fraternali

Summary, in English

We fit the rotation curves of isolated dwarf galaxies to directly measure the stellar mass-halo mass relation (M*-M200) over the mass range 5 × 105 ≲ M*/M⊙ ≲ 108. By accounting for cusp-core transformations due to stellar feedback, we find a monotonic relation with little scatter. Such monotonicity implies that abundance matching should yield a similar M*- M200 if the cosmological model is correct. Using the 'field galaxy' stellar mass function from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and the halo mass function from the Λ cold dark matter Bolshoi simulation, we find remarkable agreement between the two. This holds down to M200 ~ 5 × 109 M⊙, and to M200 ~ 5 × 108 M⊙ if we assume a power-law extrapolation of the SDSS stellar mass function below M* ~ 107 M⊙. However, if instead of SDSS we use the stellar mass function of nearby galaxy groups, then the agreement is poor. This occurs because the group stellar mass function is shallower than that of the field below M* ~ 109 M⊙, recovering the familiar 'missing satellites' and 'too big to fail' problems. Our result demonstrates that both problems are confined to group environments and must, therefore, owe to 'galaxy formation physics' rather than exotic cosmology. Finally, we repeat our analysis for aΛWarm Dark Matter cosmology, finding that it fails at 68 per cent confidence for a thermal relic mass of mWDM < 1.25 keV, and mWDM < 2 keV if we use the power-law extrapolation of SDSS. We conclude by making a number of predictions for future surveys based on these results.

Publishing year

2017-01-01

Language

English

Pages

2019-2038

Publication/Series

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

Volume

467

Issue

2

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Keywords

  • Cosmological parameters
  • Dark matter
  • Galaxies: dwarf
  • Galaxies: irregular
  • Galaxies: kinematics and dynamics
  • Local Group

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 0035-8711