Ultra-fine dark matter structure in the Solar neighbourhood

Abstract

The direct detection of dark matter on Earth depends crucially on its density and its velocity distribution on a milliparsec scale. Conventional N-body simulations are unable to access this scale, making the development of other approaches necessary. In this paper, we apply the method developed in Fantin et al. 2008 to a cosmologically-based merger tree, transforming it into a useful instrument to reproduce and analyse the merger history of a Milky Way-like system. The aim of the model is to investigate the implications of any ultra-fine structure for the current and next generation of directional dark matter detectors. We find that the velocity distribution of a Milky Way-like Galaxy is almost smooth, due to the overlap of many streams of particles generated by multiple mergers. Only the merger of a 10^10 Msun analyse can generate significant features in the ultra-local velocity distribution, detectable at the resolution attainable by current experiments.

9 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS