Kavli Affiliate: Shunsaku Horiuchi
| First 5 Authors: Mayank Sharma, Gonzalo Herrera, Nahum Arav, Shunsaku Horiuchi,
| Summary:
We propose a new method to determine the dark matter density profile in the
vicinity of distant supermassive black holes (SMBH) using reverberation mapping
measurements of active galactic nuclei (AGN). For some AGN, the mapping of
multiple emission lines allows us to measure the enclosed mass within different
radii from the central SMBH, which allows us to infer or constrain the dark
matter density profile on sub-pc scales. We find that for five out of fourteen
AGN in our identified sample, the observed enclosed mass grows with radii,
hinting evidence for the presence of a dark matter component at the 1-2
$sigma$ level. For these sources, we find global evidence for a universal dark
matter profile with a preferred radial steepness of index $gamma sim 1.6$,
consistent with the scenario expected for a dark matter spike mildly relaxed by
stellar heating processes. For the remaining AGN in our sample, we are able to
derive upper limits on the dark matter density profile parameters.
Interestingly, the strongest evidence for a dark matter component arises from
the farthest object considered, 3C 390. This new method allows us to measure or
constrain for the first time the dark matter density in the vicinity of
extragalactic SMBHs, which is crucial to our understanding of the dynamics and
nature of dark matter.
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