Related papers: A non-parametric method for measuring the local da…
The DiskMass survey recently provided measurements of the vertical velocity dispersions of disk stars in a sample of nearly face-on galaxies. By setting the disk scale-heights to be equal to those of edge-on galaxies with similar…
This paper develops a nonparametric density estimator with parametric overtones. Suppose $f(x,\theta)$ is some family of densities, indexed by a vector of parameters $\theta$. We define a local kernel smoothed likelihood function which for…
We measure the enclosed Milky Way mass profile to Galactocentric distances of $\sim70$ and $\sim50$ kpc using the smooth, diffuse stellar halo samples of Bird et al. The samples are LAMOST and SDSS/SEGUE K giants (KG) and SDSS/SEGUE blue…
We use numerical simulations to explore biases that arise in dynamical estimates of the mean mass profile for a collection of galaxy clusters that have been stacked to make a composite. There are three types of bias. One arises from…
We study the impact of the assumed velocity distribution of galactic dark matter particles on the interpretation of results from nuclear recoil detectors. By converting experimental data to variables that make the astrophysical unknowns…
The distributions of normal matter and of dark matter in the Galaxy are coupled to each other as they both move in the common gravitational potential. In order to fully exploit this interplay and to derive the various properties of dark…
If dark matter (DM) is composed by particles which are non-gravitationally coupled to ordinary matter, their annihilations or decays in cosmic structures can result in detectable radiation. We show that the most powerful technique to detect…
The self-consistent vertical density distribution in a thin, isothermal disc is typically given by a sech^2 law, as shown in the classic work by Spitzer (1942). This is obtained assuming that the radial and vertical motions are decoupled…
Understanding the nature of dark matter is among the top priorities of modern physics. However, due to its inertness, detecting and studying it directly in terrestrial experiments is extremely challenging. Numerical N-body simulations…
In some scenarios, the dark matter particle predominantly scatters inelastically with the target, producing a heavier neutral particle in the final state. In this class of scenarios, the reach in parameter space of direct detection…
We study the indirect detection of dark matter when the local dark matter velocity distribution depends upon position, as expected for the Milky Way and its dwarf spheroidal satellites, and the annihilation cross-section is not purely…
We present a numerical study of the cosmic density vs. velocity divergence relation (DVDR) in the mildly non-linear regime. We approximate the dark matter as a non-relativistic pressureless fluid, and solve its equations of motion on a grid…
Directional detection is a promising search strategy to discover galactic Dark Matter. Taking advantage on the rotation of the Solar system around the Galactic center through the Dark Matter halo, it allows to show a direction dependence of…
Extracting robust inferences on physical quantities from disk kinematics measured from Doppler-shifted molecular line emission is challenging due to the data's size and complexity. In this paper we develop a flexible linear model of the…
The time evolution of initially balanced, rapidly rotating models for an isolated disk of highly flattened galaxies of stars is calculated. The method of direct integration of the Newtonian equations of motion of stars over a time span of…
We use the state-of-the-art high-resolution cosmological simulations by IllustrisTNG to derive the velocity distribution and local density of dark matter in galaxies like our Milky Way and find a substantial spread in both quantities. Next…
In this work we investigate, through a Bayesian study, the ability of a local low matter density $\Omega_{\rm M}$, in discrepancy with the value usually inferred from the CMB angular power spectrum, to accommodate observations from local…
We present a method from an X-ray observation of a galaxy cluster to measure the radial profile of the dark matter velocity dispersion, sigma_DM, and to compare the dark matter ``temperature'' defined as mu m_p sigma_DM**2 / k_B with the…
We present a new method for determining Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP) properties in future tonne scale direct detection experiments which accounts for uncertainties in the Milky Way (MW) smooth dark matter distribution. Using…
Our recent estimates of galaxy counts and the luminosity density in the near-infrared (Keenan et al. 2010, 2012) indicated that the local universe may be under-dense on radial scales of several hundred megaparsecs (Mpc). Such a large-scale…