Internal dark matter structure of the most massive galaxy clusters since redshift 1

Abstract

We investigate the evolution of the dark matter density profiles of the most massive galaxy clusters in the Universe. Using a ‘zoom-in’ procedure on a large suite of cosmological simulations of total comoving volume of 3 ( h -1 Gpc) 3 , we study the 25 most massive clusters in four redshift slices from z ~ 1 to the present. The minimum mass is M 500 > 5:5 × 10 14 M ⊙ at z = 1. Each system has more than two million particles within r 500 . Once scaled to the critical density at each redshift, the dark matter profiles within r 500 are strikingly similar from z ~ 1 to the present day, exhibiting a low dispersion of 0.15 dex, and showing little evolution with redshift in the radial logarithmic slope and scatter. They have the running power law shape typical of the NFW-type profiles, and their inner structure, resolved to 3:8 h -1 comoving kpc at z = 1, shows no signs of converging to an asymptotic slope. Our results suggest that this type of profile is already in place at z > 1 in the highest-mass haloes in the Universe, and that it remains exceptionally robust to merging activity.