Astronomy Colloquium: Matt Walker
Date: Thu. October 25th, 2018, 3:00 pm-4:00 pmLocation: Sears 552
Dark Matter in the Smallest Galaxies
Matt Walker (Carnegie Mellon U)
The Milky Way’s dwarf-galactic satellites include the nearest, smallest, darkest and most chemically primitive galaxies known. These properties make them sensitive probes of dark matter physics, if only we can learn their dynamical masses. I will summarize recent results regarding the amount and spatial distribution of dark matter within these systems. I will discuss implications for two lines of inquiry regarding the nature of dark matter: 1) tests of the standard ‘cold dark matter’ paradigm, and 2) searches for dark matter annihilation/decay signals.