Dark matter subhalo detected via strong lensing.

This research presents the detection of a dark matter subhalo in the strongly lensed system PJ011646, utilizing high-resolution ALMA dust-continuum observations. The lens mass distribution is modeled with an elliptical power law and multipoles, and a grid-based subhalo search is performed. A subhalo with a mass of M200 = 2.78 x 10^10 solar masses and concentration c200 = 30 is detected at approximately 5.8 sigma significance. The enclosed projected mass is most tightly constrained within a radius of 2 kpc, where the inferred mass is Msub = 3.57 x 10^9 solar masses. Limits on the minimum detectable subhalo mass are derived, finding M200 ≈ 8 x 10^8 solar masses in the most sensitive regions. This detection demonstrates the capability of ALMA continuum imaging at sub-arcsecond resolution to probe dark matter substructure in a mass regime where cold and warm dark matter models predict different abundances of subhalos. This provides a valuable test for these models and contributes to our understanding of dark matter and galaxy formation.

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