Speaker
Dr
Jorge Penarrubia
(Royal Observatory Edinburgh)
Description
Dwarf spheroidal galaxies are the faintest galaxies in the Universe and as such play a fundamental role in galaxy formation models. In addition, their internal kinematics suggest the presence of large amounts of non-baryonic matter on very small scales. In models where dark matter (DM) consists of exotic particles formed shortly after the Big Bang, the high phase-space densities inferred in dwarf spheroidals can put strong bounds on the microscopic properties of several particle candidates. However, definite tests of dark matter models require a better understanding of the effects of baryons on the DM distribution in these galaxies. In this talk I will show that baryonic feedback is limited by inefficient star formation in low-mass haloes. I will also discuss how the current constraints on DM particle masses based on phase-space arguments suffer from the large range of halo models allowed by the data.
Author
Dr
Jorge Penarrubia
(Royal Observatory Edinburgh)
