Related papers: Dark-Matter Content of Early-Type Galaxies with Pl…

Although well established observations on cosmological, cluster, and galactic scales strongly suggest the existence of dark matter (DM), our understanding of its non-gravitational properties is still lacking. I review basic aspects of…

The fact that dark matter (DM), thus far, has revealed itself only on scales of galaxies and larger, again thrusts onto astrophysics the opportunity and the responsibility to confront the age old mystery "What is the nature of matter?" By…

We construct the Schwarzschild dynamical models for 11 early-type galaxies with the SAURON and Mitchell stellar IFUs out to $2-4 R_\mathrm{e}$, and construct dynamical models with combined stellar and HI kinematics for a subsample of 4…

Planetary nebulae (PNe) have the potential to revolutionize our understanding of extragalactic stellar populations. Indeed, in many systems, bright PNe are the only individual objects identifiable from the ground, and, even more often, they…

The presence of dark matter has been ascertained through a wealth of astrophysical and cosmological phenomena and its nature is a central puzzle in modern science. Elementary particles stand as the most compelling explanation. They have…

We investigate in massive early-type galaxies the variation of their two-dimensional central fraction of dark over total mass and dark matter density as a function of stellar mass, central stellar velocity dispersion, effective radius, and…

Using Hubble Space Telescope images of 119 young planetary nebulae, most of which have not previously been published, we have devised a comprehensive morphological classification system for these objects. This system generalizes a recently…

As the first step to determine disk mass-to-light ratios for normal spiral galaxies, we present the results of an imaging survey for planetary nebulae (PNe) in six nearby, face-on systems: IC 342, M74 (NGC 628), M83 (NGC 5236), M94 (NGC…

Large galaxies may contain an "atmosphere" of hot interstellar X-ray gas, and the temperature and radial density profile of this gas can be used to measure the total mass of the galaxy contained within a given radius r. We use this…

We have obtained multi-wavelength observations of compact Galactic planetary nebulae (PNe) to probe post-Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) evolution from the onset of nebular ejection. We analyze new observations from HST to derive the masses…

For nearly a century, more mass has been measured in galaxies than is contained in the luminous stars and gas. Through continual advances in observations and theory, it has become clear that the dark matter in galaxies is not comprised of…

In this work we report spectrophotometric observations of a planetary nebula sample towards the galactic bulge. A total of 45 PNe was observed and their physical parameters (electron density and temperature) were derived. Ionic abundances…

Planetary nebulae (PNe) can be used to trace intermediate and old stellar populations in galaxies and the intracluster medium out to approximately 20 Mpc. PNe can be easily identified with narrow-band surveys, and their chemical abundances…

In view of their nature, planetary nebulae have very short lifetimes, and the chemical abundances derived so far have a natural bias favoring younger objects. In this work, we report physical parameters and abundances for a sample of old…

The nature of dark matter (DM) remains unknown despite very precise knowledge of its abundance in the universe. An alternative to new elementary particles postulates DM as made of macroscopic compact halo objects (MACHO) such as black holes…

Using the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), we have carried out a survey of candidate preplanetary nebulae (PPNs). We report here our discoveries of objects having well-resolved geometrical structures, and use the large sample of PPNs now…

We provide new planetary nebula luminosity function (PNLF) distances to 19 nearby spiral galaxies that were observed with VLT/MUSE by the PHANGS collaboration. Emission line ratios are used to separate planetary nebulae (PNe) from other…

If the Dark Matter consists of primordial black holes (PBHs), we show that gravitational lensing of stars being monitored by NASA's Kepler search for extra-solar planets can cause significant numbers of detectable microlensing events. A…

Weak gravitational lensing of distant galaxies by foreground structures has proven to be a powerful tool to study the mass distribution in the universe. The advent of panoramic cameras on 4m class telescope has led to a first generation of…

Exploring dark matter via observations of extreme astrophysical environments -- defined here as heavy compact objects such as white dwarfs, neutron stars, and black holes, as well as supernovae and compact object merger events -- has been a…