Constraining the Collisional Nature of the Dark Matter Through Observations of Gravitational Wakes

Abstract

We propose to use gravitational wakes as a direct observational probe of the collisional nature of the dark matter. We calculate analytically the structure of a wake generated by the motion of a galaxy in the core of an X-ray cluster for dark matter in the highly collisional and collisionless limits. Although the difference between these limits is most likely too subtle to be detected with weak lensing observations, we show that the two cases can be distinguished through detailed X-ray observations. We also discuss the sizes of subhalos in these limits. Preliminary X-ray data on the motion of NGC 1404 through the Fornax group disfavors fluidlike dark matter but does not exclude scenarios in which the dark matter is weakly collisional.