Novel structures and collapse of solitons in nonminimally gravitating dark matter halos

Abstract: Ultralight dark matter simulations predict Bose-Einstein condensations with short-range correlation, known as solitons or boson stars, at the centers of dark matter halos. This paper investigates the formation and collapse of dark matter solitons influenced by nonminimal gravitational effects, characterized by gradient-dependent self-interactions of dark matter and an additional source in Poisson's equation for gravity. Our simulations suggest that the initial evolution of dark matter resembles that without nonminimal gravitational effects. However, regions with negative mass density may develop, and solitons will collapse when their densities reach certain critical values for both positive and negative coupling constants. With strong nonminimal coupling, structure growth could be significantly enhanced.