The Structure and Evolution of Cold Dark Matter Halos

Abstract

In the standard cosmological model a mysterious cold dark matter (CDM)\ncomponent dominates the formation of structures. Numerical studies of the\nformation of CDM halos have produced several robust results that allow unique\ntests of the hierarchical clustering paradigm. Universal properties of halos,\nincluding their mass profiles and substructure properties are roughly\nconsistent with observational data from the scales of dwarf galaxies to galaxy\nclusters. Resolving the fine grained structure of halos has enabled us to make\npredictions for ongoing and planned direct and indirect dark matter detection\nexperiments.\n While simulations of pure CDM halos are now very accurate and in good\nagreement (recently claimed discrepancies are addressed in detail in this\nreview), we are still unable to make robust, quantitative predictions about\ngalaxy formation and about how the dark matter distribution changes in the\nprocess. Whilst discrepancies between observations and simulations have been\nthe subject of much debate in the literature, galaxy formation and evolution\nneeds to be understood in more detail in order to fully test the CDM paradigm.\nWhatever the true nature of the dark matter particle is, its clustering\nproperties must not be too different from a cold neutralino like particle to\nmaintain all the successes of the model in matching large scale structure data\nand the global properties of halos which are mostly in good agreement with\nobservations.\n