An inner NFW profile has , where . If the final total circular speed is , circular-shell adiabatic contraction gives and . Thus . The total density producing the flat curve is , so the dark fraction tends to zero as despite its increase relative to the original cusp.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2002 iii Paper 44 2 c Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Use the usual spherical circular-shell adiabatic contraction approximation: initial dark-matter orbits are circular, slow accumulation keeps them circular, and dark shells do not cross. Angular momentum is conserved in a spherical potential, and the vanishing radial action stays zero as an adiabatic invariant. For a circular shell,Here is the initial shell radius and its final radius. The final flat circular speed gives .
For an initial shell in the inner NFW profile, write , so . The invariant givesConservation of dark shell mass yieldsand differentiation givesTo express the requested ratios, set and , so . Since the original cusp has ,The total density of the final spherical flat-rotation model is . Its dark fraction isSubtracting dark matter from the total gives the added-matter density, , and thusThese expressions describe the leading inner approximation, not an extension to radii where the denominator becomes negative or the initial shell is outside the NFW cusp. As , dark matter is enhanced relative to its original density while its fraction of the even steeper total density tends to zero. This is inner NFW contraction to a flat rotation curve.
The orbital assumptions matter. An initial density profile does not specify the phase-space distribution function. For eccentric orbits, slow evolution conserves their actions, but at an instantaneous radius is not generally their invariant. The above ratios are the intended circular-shell estimate; their numerical coefficients cannot be uniquely inferred from the density profile and slow accumulation alone.