StreamSculptor: Hamiltonian Perturbation Theory for Stellar Streams in Flexible Potentials with Differentiable Simulations
Stellar streams are one of the most promising tracers of low-mass dark-matter subhalos. Existing frameworks for modeling stream perturbations rely on restrictive assumptions for the Milky Way potential (e.g., static, axisymmetric) or are computationally inefficient in generating many realizations of...
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IOP Publishing
2025-01-01
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| Series: | The Astrophysical Journal |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/adb8e8 |
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| author | Jacob Nibauer Ana Bonaca David N. Spergel Adrian M. Price-Whelan Jenny E. Greene Nathaniel Starkman Kathryn V. Johnston |
| author_facet | Jacob Nibauer Ana Bonaca David N. Spergel Adrian M. Price-Whelan Jenny E. Greene Nathaniel Starkman Kathryn V. Johnston |
| author_sort | Jacob Nibauer |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Stellar streams are one of the most promising tracers of low-mass dark-matter subhalos. Existing frameworks for modeling stream perturbations rely on restrictive assumptions for the Milky Way potential (e.g., static, axisymmetric) or are computationally inefficient in generating many realizations of subhalo impacts. We present StreamSculptor , a GPU accelerated code that combines differentiable simulations and Hamiltonian perturbation theory to model the leading-order effect of dark-matter subhalos on stellar streams. Our model works in two stages: First, a base stream is generated in a Milky Way potential, including the effects of nonlinear time-dependent sources like the rotating Galactic bar and a massive satellite galaxy. Then, linear perturbation theory is applied to the base stream, allowing us to rapidly superimpose the effects of different subhalo impacts without having to carry out additional simulations. Subhalo masses and scale-radii can be rescaled as a postprocessing step. We demonstrate how this framework can be used to model subhalo impacts on stellar streams under realistic Milky Way conditions, specifically for an inner Galaxy stream like Palomar 5 and an outer Galaxy stream like Orphan–Chenab. We find that simultaneously modeling subhalo impacts and other time-dependent components of the Galactic gravitational potential is crucial for an unbiased inference of dark-matter substructure. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-bec7fe47f294416aaaa597de93900613 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 1538-4357 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | The Astrophysical Journal |
| spelling | doaj-art-bec7fe47f294416aaaa597de939006132025-08-20T03:09:24ZengIOP PublishingThe Astrophysical Journal1538-43572025-01-0198316810.3847/1538-4357/adb8e8StreamSculptor: Hamiltonian Perturbation Theory for Stellar Streams in Flexible Potentials with Differentiable SimulationsJacob Nibauer0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8042-5794Ana Bonaca1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7846-9787David N. Spergel2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5151-0006Adrian M. Price-Whelan3https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0872-7098Jenny E. Greene4https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5612-3427Nathaniel Starkman5https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3954-3291Kathryn V. Johnston6https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6244-6727Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University , 4 Ivy Lane, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA ; jnibauer@princeton.eduThe Observatories of the Carnegie Institution for Science , 813 Santa Barbara Street, Pasadena, CA 91101, USADepartment of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University , 4 Ivy Lane, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA ; jnibauer@princeton.edu; Center for Computational Astrophysics , Flatiron Institute, 162 5th Avenue, New York, NY 10010, USACenter for Computational Astrophysics , Flatiron Institute, 162 5th Avenue, New York, NY 10010, USADepartment of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University , 4 Ivy Lane, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA ; jnibauer@princeton.eduDepartment of Physics and Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology , 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139, USADepartment of Astronomy, Columbia University , New York, NY 10027, USAStellar streams are one of the most promising tracers of low-mass dark-matter subhalos. Existing frameworks for modeling stream perturbations rely on restrictive assumptions for the Milky Way potential (e.g., static, axisymmetric) or are computationally inefficient in generating many realizations of subhalo impacts. We present StreamSculptor , a GPU accelerated code that combines differentiable simulations and Hamiltonian perturbation theory to model the leading-order effect of dark-matter subhalos on stellar streams. Our model works in two stages: First, a base stream is generated in a Milky Way potential, including the effects of nonlinear time-dependent sources like the rotating Galactic bar and a massive satellite galaxy. Then, linear perturbation theory is applied to the base stream, allowing us to rapidly superimpose the effects of different subhalo impacts without having to carry out additional simulations. Subhalo masses and scale-radii can be rescaled as a postprocessing step. We demonstrate how this framework can be used to model subhalo impacts on stellar streams under realistic Milky Way conditions, specifically for an inner Galaxy stream like Palomar 5 and an outer Galaxy stream like Orphan–Chenab. We find that simultaneously modeling subhalo impacts and other time-dependent components of the Galactic gravitational potential is crucial for an unbiased inference of dark-matter substructure.https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/adb8e8Stellar streamsDark matterMilky Way Galaxy |
| spellingShingle | Jacob Nibauer Ana Bonaca David N. Spergel Adrian M. Price-Whelan Jenny E. Greene Nathaniel Starkman Kathryn V. Johnston StreamSculptor: Hamiltonian Perturbation Theory for Stellar Streams in Flexible Potentials with Differentiable Simulations The Astrophysical Journal Stellar streams Dark matter Milky Way Galaxy |
| title | StreamSculptor: Hamiltonian Perturbation Theory for Stellar Streams in Flexible Potentials with Differentiable Simulations |
| title_full | StreamSculptor: Hamiltonian Perturbation Theory for Stellar Streams in Flexible Potentials with Differentiable Simulations |
| title_fullStr | StreamSculptor: Hamiltonian Perturbation Theory for Stellar Streams in Flexible Potentials with Differentiable Simulations |
| title_full_unstemmed | StreamSculptor: Hamiltonian Perturbation Theory for Stellar Streams in Flexible Potentials with Differentiable Simulations |
| title_short | StreamSculptor: Hamiltonian Perturbation Theory for Stellar Streams in Flexible Potentials with Differentiable Simulations |
| title_sort | streamsculptor hamiltonian perturbation theory for stellar streams in flexible potentials with differentiable simulations |
| topic | Stellar streams Dark matter Milky Way Galaxy |
| url | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/adb8e8 |
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