Related papers: Dark Matter and IMF normalization in Virgo dwarf e…
The stellar initial-mass function (IMF) represents a fundamental quantity in astrophysics and cosmology, describing the mass distribution of stars from low to very-high masses. It is intimately linked to a wide variety of topics, including…
We explore the possibility of using UV spectroscopy in combination with broad-band photometry as diagnostic tools for understanding the shape of the Initial Mass Function (IMF) in unresolved stellar populations. Building on our previous…
The spherical Jeans equation is commonly used to infer dark matter distributions in dwarf spheroidal satellites of the Milky Way to constrain the nature of dark matter. One of its assumptions is that of dynamical equilibrium while the…
Cold Dark Matter (CDM) models struggle to match the observations at galactic scales. The tension can be reduced either by dramatic baryonic feedback effects or by modifying the particle physics of CDM. Here, we consider an ultra-light…
The hypothesis of a universal initial mass function (IMF) -- motivated by observations in nearby stellar systems -- has been recently challenged by the discovery of a systematic variation of the IMF with the central velocity dispersion,…
The H alpha equivalent width (EW) is the ratio of the H alpha flux to the continuum at 6565{\AA}. In normal star forming galaxies the H alpha flux is dominated by reprocessed photons from stars with masses greater than 10 M_o and the…
Dust is important for star formation because it is the crucial component that couples gas to stellar radiation fields, allowing radiation feedback to influence gas fragmentation and thus the stellar initial mass function (IMF). Variations…
Collisionless Dark Matter Only (DMO) structure formation simulations predict that Dark Matter (DM) haloes are prolate in their centres and triaxial towards their outskirts. The addition of gas condensation transforms the central DM shape to…
I compare the density profile of dark matter (DM) halos in cold dark matter (CDM) N-body simulations with 1 Mpc, 32 Mpc, 256 Mpc and 1024 Mpc box sizes. In dimensionless units the simulations differ only for the initial power spectrum of…
We analyse intermediate-resolution VLT FLAMES/Giraffe spectra of six ultra-compact dwarf (UCD) galaxies in the Fornax cluster. We obtained velocity dispersions and stellar population properties by full spectral fitting against PEGASE.HR…
In the star formation process, the vital impact of environmental factors such as feedback from massive stars and stellar density on the form of the initial mass function (IMF) at low-mass end is yet to be understood. Hence a systematic,…
We develop a comprehensive study of the gamma-ray flux observed by H.E.S.S. in 5 regions of the Galactic Center (GC). Motivated by previous works on a possible Dark Matter (DM) explanation for the TeV cut-off observed in the innermost $\sim…
This thesis explores the effects of dark matter (DM) on neutron stars (NSs) using the relativistic mean-field (RMF) model. The effects of DM on NS properties, including the mass-radius relation, the moment of inertia, and tidal…
We show that measuring the proper motion of ${{\sim 2000}}$ stars within a dwarf galaxy, with an uncertainty of 1 km/s at most, can establish whether the Dark Matter (DM) density profile of the dwarf has a central core or cusp. We derive…
This paper introduces a new two-parameter family of dwarf spheroidal (dSph) galaxy models. The density distribution has a Plummer profile and falls like the inverse fourth power of distance in projection, in agreement with the star-count…
The fuzzy dark matter (FDM) model treats DM as a bosonic field with astrophysically large de Broglie wavelength. A striking feature of this model is $\mathcal{O}(1)$ fluctuations in the dark matter density on time scales which are shorter…
We investigate phenomenologically the viability of fuzzy dark matter (FDM). We do this by confronting the predictions of the model, in particular, the formation of a solitonic core at the center of dark matter halos, with a homogeneous and…
Because direct measurements require resolved stellar populations including low-mass stars, determining the stellar initial mass function (IMF) has been a historically difficult problem even within our own Galaxy and impossible everywhere…
We examine the cosmic evolution of a stellar initial mass function (IMF) in galaxies that varies with the Jeans mass in the interstellar medium, paying particular attention to the K-band stellar mass to light ratio (M/L_K) of present-epoch…
Milky Way dwarf spheroidal satellites are a prime target for Dark Matter (DM) indirect searches. There have been recent reassessments of the expected DM gamma-ray signals in case of long-range interactions, commonly known as Sommerfeld…