Related papers: An approximate theory for substructure propagation…
The accuracy of the measurements of some astrophysical dynamical systems allows to constrain the existence of incredibly small gravitational perturbations. In particular, the internal Solar System dynamics (planets, Earth-Moon) opens up the…
In the standard model of cosmic structure formation, dark matter haloes form by gravitational instability. The process is hierarchical: smaller systems collapse earlier, and later merge to form larger haloes. The galaxy clusters, hosted by…
We present a high resolution dark matter reconstruction of the z=0.165 Abell 901/902 supercluster from a weak lensing analysis of the HST STAGES survey. We detect the four main structures of the supercluster at high significance, resolving…
We show that the mass of a dark matter halo can be inferred from the dynamical status of its satellite galaxies. Using 9 dark-matter simulations of halos like the Milky Way (MW), we find that the present-day substructures in each halo…
We present a detailed study of the shapes and alignments of different galaxy cluster components using hydrodynamical simulations. We compute shape parameters from the Dark Matter (DM) distribution, the galaxy members and the intra-cluster…
According to the standard model of cosmology the visible, baryonic matter of galaxies is embedded in dark matter haloes, thus extending the mass and the size of galaxies by one to two orders of magnitude. Taking into account dynamical…
Knowledge of mass and concentration of galaxy clusters is crucial to understand their formation and evolution. Unbiased estimates require the understanding of the shape and orientation of the halo as well as its equilibrium status. We…
The cold dark matter picture predicts an abundance of substructure within the Galactic halo. However, most substructures host no stars and can only be detected indirectly. Stellar streams present a promising probe of this dark substructure.…
I review four decades of numerical simulations of galaxy clusters focussing on the attempts to resolve their internal structure. Overmerging describes the numerical or physical disruption of dark matter halos within dense environments. This…
X-ray observations have played a key role in the study of substructure and merging in galaxy clusters. I review the evidence for cluster substructure and mergers obtained from X-ray observations with satellites that operated before Chandra…
We analyse the dynamical properties of substructures in a high-resolution dark matter simulation of the formation of a Milky Way-like halo in a $\Lambda$CDM cosmology. Our goal is to shed light on the dynamical peculiarities of the Milky…
Starting with the well-known NFW dark matter halo distribution, we construct a simple polytropic model for the intracluster medium which is in good agreement with high resolution numerical hydrodynamical simulations, apply this model to a…
MACHOs (Massive Astrophysical Compact Halo Objects) - as discovered by microlensing experiments towards the LMC - provide a natural explanation for the galactic halo dark matter. A realistic possibility is that MACHOs are brown dwarfs of…
An important open question today is the understanding of the relevance that dark matter (DM) halo substructure may have for DM searches. In the standard cosmological framework, subhalos are predicted to be largely abundant inside larger…
The majority of gamma-ray emission from Galactic dark matter annihilation is likely to be detected as a contribution to the diffuse gamma-ray background. I show that dark matter substructure in the halo of the Galaxy induces characteristic…
The scale radius of dark matter halos is a critical parameter for specifying the density distribution of dark matter, and is therefore a fundamental parameter for modeling galaxies. We develop here a novel, observationally motivated probe…
If dark matter interacts, even weakly, via non-gravitational forces, simulations predict that it will be preferentially scattered towards the trailing edge of the halo during collisions between galaxy clusters. This will temporarily create…
The Milky Way contains several distinct old stellar components that provide a fossil record of its formation. We can understand their spatial distribution and kinematics in a hierarchical formation scenario by associating the proto-galactic…
Galaxy clusters, the most massive, dark-matter-dominated, and most recently assembled structures in the Universe, are key tools for probing cosmology. However, uncertainties in scaling relations that connect cluster mass to observables like…
We investigate the effects of numerous dark matter subhalos in a galaxy-sized halo on the events of strong lensing, to assess their presence as expected from the cold dark matter scenario. Lens galaxies are represented by a smooth ellipsoid…