Heating and scattering of stellar distributions by ultralight dark matter
Phys. Rev. D 113, 083535 – Published 30 April, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/zngx-f8pz
Abstract
Due to wave interference, an ultralight light dark matter halo has stochastic, granular substructures which can scatter stars, leading to the heating of stellar distributions. Studies of this phenomenon have placed lower bounds on the ultralight dark matter mass. In this paper we investigate a number of relevant systematic effects, including: (1) the heating by the central soliton, (2) the self-gravity of the stars, (3) the suppression of heating in a tidally stripped halo, and (4) the tidal field suppression of heating when the stellar cluster is much smaller than the de Broglie wavelength. The first three effects are quantified by studying the dynamics of stellar particles in Schrödinger-Poisson simulations of ultralight dark matter halos, while the last effect is studied using analytic approximations.
