Power-laws and Non-Power-laws in Dark Matter Halos

Simulated dark matter profiles are often modelled as a ‘NFW’ density profile rather than a single power law. Recently, attention has turned to the rather rigorous power-law behaviour exhibited by the ‘pseudo phase-space density’ of the dark matter halo, which is defined dimensionally in terms of the local density and velocity dispersion of the dark matter particles. The non-power-law behaviour of the density profile is generally taken to exclude simple scale-free, in-fall models; however the power-law behaviour of the ‘pseudo-density’ is a counter indication. We argue in this paper that both behaviours may be at least qualitatively understood in terms of a dynamically evolving self-similarity, rather than the form for self-similar infall that is fixed permanently by cosmological initial conditions. The evolution is likely due to collective relaxation such as that provided by the radial-orbit instability on large scales. We deduce, from a distribution function implied by first order coarse-graining, both the NFW-type density profile and the power-law pseudo-density profile. The results are not greatly sensitive to variation about 3 in the power of the velocity dispersion used in the definition of the pseudo-density. We suggest that the power 2 may create the more physical quantity, whose deviations from a power-law are a diagnostic of incomplete relaxation. Subject headings: cosmology:theory—dark matter—halo formation