Constraints on dark matter self-interaction from galactic core size

Self-interaction of particulate dark matter may help thermalising the central region of the galactic halo and driving core formation. The core radius is expectedly sensitive to the self-interaction strength of dark matter (DM). In this paper we study the feasibility of constraining dark matter self-interaction from the distribution of the core radius in isolated haloes. We perform systematic DM only N-body simulations of spherically symmetric isolated galactic haloes in the mass range of 10(10)-10(15)M(?), incorporating the impact of isotropic DM self-interaction. Comparing the simulated profiles with the observational data, we pro-vide a conservative upper limit on the self-interaction cross-section, sigma/m < 9.8 cm(2)/gm at 95% confidence level. We report significant dependence of the derived bounds on the galactic density distribution models assumed for the analysis.

Automated summary

In this study, we aim to constrain the self-interaction of dark matter by analyzing the distribution of core radius in isolated haloes. By conducting simulations and comparing them with observational data, we provide an upper limit on the self-interaction cross-section and find a significant dependence on the assumed galactic density distribution models.