Diversity of Galaxy Centers from Small-Scale Isocurvature

Abstract: The observed diversity of galaxy centers motivates the possibility that the local dark matter composition may vary among galaxies. In conventional multicomponent dark matter scenarios, however, large stochastic variations in the relative abundances are not generically expected, with the cold component typically remaining dominant. We perform $N$-body simulations with a subdominant ultralight dark matter component carrying significant large-amplitude small-scale isocurvature perturbations. We find that although nonlinear evolution largely homogenizes its fraction on galactic scales,ultralight dark matter can still be enhanced and even dominate the centers of small halos because large initial ultralight dark matter fluctuations seed early potential wells that later form halo centers. The ultralight-dominated region can extend beyond $0.01R_{\rm vir}$ and account for more than half of the central dark matter density, even for a cosmological ultralight dark matter fraction below $O(10\%)$. This central segregation provides a possible route to stochastic cusp--core diversity, potentially explaining the observed diversity of galaxy centers.