Nuclear, Particle, Astroparticle and Cosmology (NUPAC) Seminars
Probing Dark Matter Physics using the Milky-Way Satellite Population
Presented by Soumyodipta Karmakar (UNM)
Our Universe is full of mysterious things, "dark matter" is one of them. The presence of dark matter has been inferred through observations of the cosmic microwave background, the large-scale structure of the Universe, galactic rotation curves, and galaxy clusters. However, its nature is still unknown. In this talk, we will discuss how observations of Milky-Way satellites can be used to constrain dark matter physics. These satellites are important as they are hosted by some of the least massive halos in the Universe. Such halos are sensitive to the detail of dark matter physics, which could affect their abundance and their density profile. Here, we build a detailed model of the luminosity function and stellar velocity dispersion of the Milky-Way satellite population, incorporating how dark matter physics affects these observables. Using this model, we show that current and future observations of these satellite galaxies could be used to jointly constrain the dark matter self-interaction cross-section and a possible suppression of small-scale structure.
2:00 pm, Tuesday, April 11, 2023
PAIS-3205, PAIS
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