Deep zoom-in simulation of a fuzzy dark matter galactic halo

Understand

Fuzzy dark matter (FDM) made of ultra-light bosonic particles is a viable alternative to cold dark matter (CDM) with clearly distinguishable small-scale features in collapsed structures.

• On large scales, it behaves gravitationally like CDM deviating only by a cut-off in the initial power spectrum and can be studied using N-body methods.
• In contrast, wave interference effects near the de Broglie scale result in new phenomena unique to FDM.
• Interfering modes in filaments and halos yield a stochastically oscillating granular structure which condenses into solitonic cores during halo formation.