On Universal Halos and the Radial Orbit Instability

Astrophys.J.653:43-52,2006 The radial orbit instability drives dark matter halos toward a universal structure. This conclusion, first noted by Huss, Jain, and Steinmetz, is explored in detail through a series of numerical experiments involving the collapse of an isolated halo into the non-linear regime. The role played by the radial orbit instability in generating the density profile, shape, and orbit structure is carefully analyzed and, in all cases, the instability leads to universality independent of initial conditions. New insights into the underlying physics of the radial orbit instability are presented.