Ryan Leaman and Glenn van de Ven (Vienna): The Nature of Dark Matter unveiled through Synergy of Astrophysics and Particle Physics

Dienstag, 01. Juni 2021 16:00

Zoom Meeting: univienna.zoom.us/j/93104933847

Meeting ID: 931 0493 3847

Passcode: 674625

Despite comprising significant percentage of the Universe's mass budget, the exact properties of dark matter (DM) remain elusive. Enormous resources have been invested into direct and indirect DM detection experiments by the particle physics community, however these have not yet uniquely constrained nor detected a DM candidate. Several theoretical particle models all fit constraints from observations of the cosmic microwave background and large-scale structure, but differ in their predictions for particle mass, interaction strength and consequences for the spatial distribution of dark matter within galaxies. Complicating this further is the degenerate impact of baryonic feedback, which is expected to fundamentally alter the DM distribution within galaxies - mimicking expectations from scalar field or self-interacting dark matter cosmologies. We will discuss how new dynamical modelling techniques within our Milky Way and in low mass dwarf galaxies, offer an exciting way to disentangle these degenerate signatures between alternative dark matter particle theories and baryonic feedback - complementing the efforts of current and next generation direct and in-direct particle experiments.