Research Division Seminar
Unveiling dark matter halo substructure through N-body cosmological simulations

Dr. Alejandra Aguirre-Santaella

Resumen

Strong gravitational evidence at galactic, extragalactic and cosmological scales exists to believe that most of the matter in our Universe, i.e. up to ∼85% of the total, is dark and non-baryonic. Yet, this dark matter (DM) has not been directly detected. Some of the most preferred scenarios suggest that DM consists of Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs), which interact mostly gravitationally with baryonic matter.

There are three complementary techniques to hunt for these WIMPs: production in colliders, direct detection via scattering of Standard Model nuclei, and indirect detection of DM annihilation/decay products. Since all evidence we currently have on DM is astrophysical, indirect searches are the only ones that can provide a means not only to identify the necessary connection between the astrophysical observations and what DM is made of, but also to help unravel the precise DM distribution in the Universe.
This talk focuses on shedding light on the nature and distribution of DM paying particular attention to the so-called DM halo substructure or subhaloes. More specifically, we study the characterisation of the DM subhalo population inside a variety of host halos using data from state-of-the-art numerical cosmological simulations, with a focus on Milky Way-like galaxies.
The results help to understand not only the DM clustering at small scales but also the role of subhaloes for current and future indirect DM searches.

Sobre la charla

Unveiling dark matter halo substructure through N-body cosmological simulations
Dr. Alejandra Aguirre-Santaella
Durham University
Tuesday February 4, 2025 - 12:30 GMT  (Aula)
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