Center for Astrophysics Research and Technologies Seminar Series
Atomic Gas as a Cosmological Probe in Nearby Dwarf Galaxies
Presented by Kristine Spekkens (RMC)
The atomic gas (HI) content of nearby dwarf galaxies provides important insight into how galaxies of all masses form and evolve within the standard cold dark matter cosmology. In this talk, I will highlight some of my group's recent efforts to use deep HI searches in nearby dwarfs as a cosmological probe. First, I'll explain how the upper limits that we derive on the HI content of the faintest dwarf spheroidals may elucidate key dynamical properties of the Milky Way and its satellites. I'll then discuss our efforts to extend these studies into other environments in the Local Volume, exploiting deep HI searches to discriminate bona-fide satellites from background sources in catalogs of low surface brightness detections around nearby galaxy hosts. I'll finish by discussing how widefield HI surveys using SKA precursor facilities -- which will start early science programs next year -- will revolutionize this field, as well as enable the first statistical studies of the internal structure of nearby dwarfs to constrain the interplay between dark matter and baryons during cosmological galaxy formation.
2:00 pm, Thursday, October 25, 2018
PAIS-2540, PAIS
Individuals with disabilities who need an auxiliary aid or service to attend or participate in P&A events should contact the Physics Department (phone: 505-277-2616, email: physics@unm.edu) well in advance to ensure your needs are accomodated. Event handouts can be provided in alternative accessible formats upon request. Please contact the Physics front office if you need written information in an alternative format.
A schedule of talks within the Department of Physics and Astronomy is available on the P&A web site at http://physics.unm.edu/pandaweb/events/index.php