Dark sector domain walls could explain the observed planes of satellites

Naik, Aneesh P.; Burrage, Clare

Abstract

The observed 'planes of satellites' around the Milky Way and other nearby galaxies are notoriously difficult to explain under the ΛCDM paradigm. Here, we propose an alternative solution: domain walls arising in theories with symmetry-breaking scalar fields coupled to matter. Because of the matter coupling, satellite galaxies experience fifth forces as they pass through domain walls, leading to a subset of satellites with orbits confined to the domain wall plane. We demonstrate this effect using simple simulations of a toy model comprising point-like satellites and an infinite domain wall, and explore the efficacy of various planarity metrics in detecting this effect. We believe this is the first potential 'new physics' explanation for the observed planes of satellites which does not do away with dark matter.

Citation

Naik, A. P., & Burrage, C. (2022). Dark sector domain walls could explain the observed planes of satellites. Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, 2022(08), Article 020. https://doi.org/10.1088/1475-7516/2022/08/020

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jul 8, 2022
• Online Publication Date: Aug 11, 2022
• Publication Date: Aug 1, 2022
• Deposit Date: Aug 24, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Aug 24, 2022
• Journal: Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
• Electronic ISSN: 1475-7516
• Publisher: IOP Publishing
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 2022
• Issue: 08
• Article Number: 020
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1088/1475-7516/2022/08/020
• Keywords: paper, dwarfs galaxies, Cosmic strings, domain walls, monopoles, dark matter simulations, modified gravity
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/10071906
• Publisher URL: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1475-7516/2022/08/020
• Additional Information: Article Title: Dark sector domain walls could explain the observed planes of satellites; Journal Title: Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics; Article Type: paper; Copyright Information: © 2022 The Author(s); Date Received: 2022-05-17; Date Accepted: 2022-07-08; Online publication date: 2022-08-11