Why do physicists think that the dark matter is cold?











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Most of the dark matter in the Universe is cold or nonrelativistic which rules out neutrinos as dark matter candidate as they are hot or relativistic. But why do physicists think that the dark matter is cold? How cold (i.e., how heavy) do these dark matter particles have to be?






cosmology temperature universe dark-matter







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    Can I give it a try: they cannot be too energetic otherwise they will never attract each other gravitationally which mean stars and planets will either form much much later or not at all.
    – user6760
    6 hours ago










  • Possible duplicates: physics.stackexchange.com/q/128125/2451 and links therein.
    – Qmechanic♦
    5 hours ago






  • 2




    It clumps better, (than any alternative) making it a better model for the observed distribution of ordinary matter: journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.031302. And, an easier read, for me at least: forbes.com/sites/briankoberlein/2017/07/28/…
    – StudyStudy
    5 hours ago















up vote
4
down vote

favorite












Most of the dark matter in the Universe is cold or nonrelativistic which rules out neutrinos as dark matter candidate as they are hot or relativistic. But why do physicists think that the dark matter is cold? How cold (i.e., how heavy) do these dark matter particles have to be?






cosmology temperature universe dark-matter







share|cite|improve this question




















  • 2




    Can I give it a try: they cannot be too energetic otherwise they will never attract each other gravitationally which mean stars and planets will either form much much later or not at all.
    – user6760
    6 hours ago










  • Possible duplicates: physics.stackexchange.com/q/128125/2451 and links therein.
    – Qmechanic♦
    5 hours ago






  • 2




    It clumps better, (than any alternative) making it a better model for the observed distribution of ordinary matter: journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.031302. And, an easier read, for me at least: forbes.com/sites/briankoberlein/2017/07/28/…
    – StudyStudy
    5 hours ago













up vote
4
down vote

favorite









up vote
4
down vote

favorite











Most of the dark matter in the Universe is cold or nonrelativistic which rules out neutrinos as dark matter candidate as they are hot or relativistic. But why do physicists think that the dark matter is cold? How cold (i.e., how heavy) do these dark matter particles have to be?






cosmology temperature universe dark-matter







share|cite|improve this question















Most of the dark matter in the Universe is cold or nonrelativistic which rules out neutrinos as dark matter candidate as they are hot or relativistic. But why do physicists think that the dark matter is cold? How cold (i.e., how heavy) do these dark matter particles have to be?






cosmology temperature universe dark-matter




cosmology temperature universe dark-matter






share|cite|improve this question















share|cite|improve this question













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share|cite|improve this question








edited 5 hours ago









Qmechanic♦

100k121821134




100k121821134










asked 6 hours ago









SRS

6,632430117




6,632430117








  • 2




    Can I give it a try: they cannot be too energetic otherwise they will never attract each other gravitationally which mean stars and planets will either form much much later or not at all.
    – user6760
    6 hours ago










  • Possible duplicates: physics.stackexchange.com/q/128125/2451 and links therein.
    – Qmechanic♦
    5 hours ago






  • 2




    It clumps better, (than any alternative) making it a better model for the observed distribution of ordinary matter: journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.031302. And, an easier read, for me at least: forbes.com/sites/briankoberlein/2017/07/28/…
    – StudyStudy
    5 hours ago














  • 2




    Can I give it a try: they cannot be too energetic otherwise they will never attract each other gravitationally which mean stars and planets will either form much much later or not at all.
    – user6760
    6 hours ago










  • Possible duplicates: physics.stackexchange.com/q/128125/2451 and links therein.
    – Qmechanic♦
    5 hours ago






  • 2




    It clumps better, (than any alternative) making it a better model for the observed distribution of ordinary matter: journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.031302. And, an easier read, for me at least: forbes.com/sites/briankoberlein/2017/07/28/…
    – StudyStudy
    5 hours ago








2




2




Can I give it a try: they cannot be too energetic otherwise they will never attract each other gravitationally which mean stars and planets will either form much much later or not at all.
– user6760
6 hours ago




Can I give it a try: they cannot be too energetic otherwise they will never attract each other gravitationally which mean stars and planets will either form much much later or not at all.
– user6760
6 hours ago












Possible duplicates: physics.stackexchange.com/q/128125/2451 and links therein.
– Qmechanic♦
5 hours ago




Possible duplicates: physics.stackexchange.com/q/128125/2451 and links therein.
– Qmechanic♦
5 hours ago




2




2




It clumps better, (than any alternative) making it a better model for the observed distribution of ordinary matter: journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.031302. And, an easier read, for me at least: forbes.com/sites/briankoberlein/2017/07/28/…
– StudyStudy
5 hours ago




It clumps better, (than any alternative) making it a better model for the observed distribution of ordinary matter: journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.031302. And, an easier read, for me at least: forbes.com/sites/briankoberlein/2017/07/28/…
– StudyStudy
5 hours ago










1 Answer
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Perhaps is instructive to know why we call it cold dark matter, and why prefer it over warm or even hot dark matter. The term refers to the velocity of the particles after decoupling. It is intuitive that it is more difficult to form a gravitationally bound structure if the particles that form it move too fast. Lower thermal velocities of dark matter particles imply that structures can grow in size after they decouple from the radiation field, way before recombination. You can picture it like this:




  • There are primordial seed perturbations in the density field

  • If the DM particles are cold, they are slow so the these perturbations can start growing (once decoupled from expansion) even during the epoch in which baryons are still strongly coupled to radiation

  • Only after recombination, baryons are able to cool down, but at that point the seed perturbations are large enough to become potential wells (dark matter halos) to baryons to settle in (dark matter halos).


Then small halos merge together to form larger ones, and so on. The result is then galaxies form smaller, and grow by mergers. This is what we call the CDM galaxy formation model.



Now compare this to a case in which DM particles are hot. Since they diffuse (Silk Damping) easier, you need larger structures as seeds. So in this picture galaxies start large, and fragment over time.



Which is one do we observe? We just need to count galaxies, turns out that CDM works best. Since dark matter halos form and grow early, baryons quickly fall into them, which results in efficient galaxy formation, efficient enough to be consistent with today's observations. Based on this you can put constraints on the mass of the dark matter particles.



For example, by counting the number of small galaxies around the Milky Way (dwarf galaxies) we can come up with a constraint on the mass of the DM. There's a problem though, small galaxies are very difficult to observe, ruling out warm dark matter has turned out to be not that easy. Well IMHO evidence points towards CDM, but you can find plenty of literature arguing in favor of WDM, here is one example.






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    Perhaps is instructive to know why we call it cold dark matter, and why prefer it over warm or even hot dark matter. The term refers to the velocity of the particles after decoupling. It is intuitive that it is more difficult to form a gravitationally bound structure if the particles that form it move too fast. Lower thermal velocities of dark matter particles imply that structures can grow in size after they decouple from the radiation field, way before recombination. You can picture it like this:




    • There are primordial seed perturbations in the density field

    • If the DM particles are cold, they are slow so the these perturbations can start growing (once decoupled from expansion) even during the epoch in which baryons are still strongly coupled to radiation

    • Only after recombination, baryons are able to cool down, but at that point the seed perturbations are large enough to become potential wells (dark matter halos) to baryons to settle in (dark matter halos).


    Then small halos merge together to form larger ones, and so on. The result is then galaxies form smaller, and grow by mergers. This is what we call the CDM galaxy formation model.



    Now compare this to a case in which DM particles are hot. Since they diffuse (Silk Damping) easier, you need larger structures as seeds. So in this picture galaxies start large, and fragment over time.



    Which is one do we observe? We just need to count galaxies, turns out that CDM works best. Since dark matter halos form and grow early, baryons quickly fall into them, which results in efficient galaxy formation, efficient enough to be consistent with today's observations. Based on this you can put constraints on the mass of the dark matter particles.



    For example, by counting the number of small galaxies around the Milky Way (dwarf galaxies) we can come up with a constraint on the mass of the DM. There's a problem though, small galaxies are very difficult to observe, ruling out warm dark matter has turned out to be not that easy. Well IMHO evidence points towards CDM, but you can find plenty of literature arguing in favor of WDM, here is one example.






    share|cite|improve this answer

























      up vote
      7
      down vote













      Perhaps is instructive to know why we call it cold dark matter, and why prefer it over warm or even hot dark matter. The term refers to the velocity of the particles after decoupling. It is intuitive that it is more difficult to form a gravitationally bound structure if the particles that form it move too fast. Lower thermal velocities of dark matter particles imply that structures can grow in size after they decouple from the radiation field, way before recombination. You can picture it like this:




      • There are primordial seed perturbations in the density field

      • If the DM particles are cold, they are slow so the these perturbations can start growing (once decoupled from expansion) even during the epoch in which baryons are still strongly coupled to radiation

      • Only after recombination, baryons are able to cool down, but at that point the seed perturbations are large enough to become potential wells (dark matter halos) to baryons to settle in (dark matter halos).


      Then small halos merge together to form larger ones, and so on. The result is then galaxies form smaller, and grow by mergers. This is what we call the CDM galaxy formation model.



      Now compare this to a case in which DM particles are hot. Since they diffuse (Silk Damping) easier, you need larger structures as seeds. So in this picture galaxies start large, and fragment over time.



      Which is one do we observe? We just need to count galaxies, turns out that CDM works best. Since dark matter halos form and grow early, baryons quickly fall into them, which results in efficient galaxy formation, efficient enough to be consistent with today's observations. Based on this you can put constraints on the mass of the dark matter particles.



      For example, by counting the number of small galaxies around the Milky Way (dwarf galaxies) we can come up with a constraint on the mass of the DM. There's a problem though, small galaxies are very difficult to observe, ruling out warm dark matter has turned out to be not that easy. Well IMHO evidence points towards CDM, but you can find plenty of literature arguing in favor of WDM, here is one example.






      share|cite|improve this answer























        up vote
        7
        down vote










        up vote
        7
        down vote









        Perhaps is instructive to know why we call it cold dark matter, and why prefer it over warm or even hot dark matter. The term refers to the velocity of the particles after decoupling. It is intuitive that it is more difficult to form a gravitationally bound structure if the particles that form it move too fast. Lower thermal velocities of dark matter particles imply that structures can grow in size after they decouple from the radiation field, way before recombination. You can picture it like this:




        • There are primordial seed perturbations in the density field

        • If the DM particles are cold, they are slow so the these perturbations can start growing (once decoupled from expansion) even during the epoch in which baryons are still strongly coupled to radiation

        • Only after recombination, baryons are able to cool down, but at that point the seed perturbations are large enough to become potential wells (dark matter halos) to baryons to settle in (dark matter halos).


        Then small halos merge together to form larger ones, and so on. The result is then galaxies form smaller, and grow by mergers. This is what we call the CDM galaxy formation model.



        Now compare this to a case in which DM particles are hot. Since they diffuse (Silk Damping) easier, you need larger structures as seeds. So in this picture galaxies start large, and fragment over time.



        Which is one do we observe? We just need to count galaxies, turns out that CDM works best. Since dark matter halos form and grow early, baryons quickly fall into them, which results in efficient galaxy formation, efficient enough to be consistent with today's observations. Based on this you can put constraints on the mass of the dark matter particles.



        For example, by counting the number of small galaxies around the Milky Way (dwarf galaxies) we can come up with a constraint on the mass of the DM. There's a problem though, small galaxies are very difficult to observe, ruling out warm dark matter has turned out to be not that easy. Well IMHO evidence points towards CDM, but you can find plenty of literature arguing in favor of WDM, here is one example.






        share|cite|improve this answer












        Perhaps is instructive to know why we call it cold dark matter, and why prefer it over warm or even hot dark matter. The term refers to the velocity of the particles after decoupling. It is intuitive that it is more difficult to form a gravitationally bound structure if the particles that form it move too fast. Lower thermal velocities of dark matter particles imply that structures can grow in size after they decouple from the radiation field, way before recombination. You can picture it like this:




        • There are primordial seed perturbations in the density field

        • If the DM particles are cold, they are slow so the these perturbations can start growing (once decoupled from expansion) even during the epoch in which baryons are still strongly coupled to radiation

        • Only after recombination, baryons are able to cool down, but at that point the seed perturbations are large enough to become potential wells (dark matter halos) to baryons to settle in (dark matter halos).


        Then small halos merge together to form larger ones, and so on. The result is then galaxies form smaller, and grow by mergers. This is what we call the CDM galaxy formation model.



        Now compare this to a case in which DM particles are hot. Since they diffuse (Silk Damping) easier, you need larger structures as seeds. So in this picture galaxies start large, and fragment over time.



        Which is one do we observe? We just need to count galaxies, turns out that CDM works best. Since dark matter halos form and grow early, baryons quickly fall into them, which results in efficient galaxy formation, efficient enough to be consistent with today's observations. Based on this you can put constraints on the mass of the dark matter particles.



        For example, by counting the number of small galaxies around the Milky Way (dwarf galaxies) we can come up with a constraint on the mass of the DM. There's a problem though, small galaxies are very difficult to observe, ruling out warm dark matter has turned out to be not that easy. Well IMHO evidence points towards CDM, but you can find plenty of literature arguing in favor of WDM, here is one example.







        share|cite|improve this answer












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        caverac

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