Related papers: On measuring the Galactic dark matter halo with hy…
The degeneracy among the disk, bulge and halo contributions to galaxy rotation curves prevents an understanding of the distribution of baryons and dark matter in disk galaxies. In an attempt to break this degeneracy, we present an analysis…
Recent Gaia observations suggest that some hypervelocity stars (HVSs) might originate from outside the Galaxy. We ask if these HVSs could come from as far as Andromeda. Therefore, we simulate HVSs originating in Andromeda with initial…
The observed flaring of HI disk in the outer region of galaxies has been used in the past to determine the shape of the dark matter halo. Previous studies based on this concept suggest a slightly oblate halo (axis ratio ~ 0.8) for our…
We present some developments in determining H-alpha distances to high-velocity clouds (HVCs) in the Galactic halo. Until recently, it was difficult to assess the nature and origin of HVCs because so little was known about them. But now…
We combine HI 21cm observations of the Milky Way, M31, and the local galaxy population with QSO absorption-line measurements to geometrically model the three-dimensional distribution of infalling neutral gas clouds (HVCs) in the extended…
We set new limits on the mass of the Milky Way, making use of the latest kinematic information for Galactic satellites and halo objects. In order to bind these sample objects to the Galaxy, their rest-frame velocities must be lower than…
Recent surveys have identified seven hypervelocity stars (HVSs) in the halo of the Milky Way. Most of these stars may have originated from the breakup of binary star systems by the nuclear black hole SgrA*. In some instances, the breakup of…
About one year ago, it was speculated that decaying or annihilating Light Dark Matter (LDM) particles could explain the flux and extension of the 511 keV line emission in the galactic centre. Here we present a thorough comparison between…
An annihilation signal of dark matter is searched for from the central region of the Milky Way. Data acquired in dedicated ON/OFF observations of the Galactic center region with H.E.S.S. are analyzed for this purpose. No significant signal…
We use distant Blue Horizontal Branch stars with Galactocentric distances 16 < r/kpc < 48 as kinematic tracers of the Milky Way dark halo. We model the tracer density as an oblate, power-law embedded within a spherical power-law potential.…
The last decade has seen the detection of fast moving stars in the Galactic halo, the so-called hypervelocity stars (HVSs). While the bulk of this population is likely the result of a close encounter between a stellar binary and the…
The positions and velocities of stellar streams have been used to constrain the mass and shape of the Milky Way's dark matter halo. Several extragalactic streams have already been detected, though it has remained unclear what can be…
We review most dynamical constraints on the gravitational field of spiral galaxies in general, and of the Milky Way in particular. Such constraints are of prime importance for determining the characteristics of the putative dark matter…
Escape velocity has long been used to constrain the mass of the Dark Matter (DM) halo in the Milky Way (MW). Here we present a study of the escape velocity curve using a sample of high-velocity K giants with full 6D phase-space information…
We present a spectroscopic sample of 910 distant halo stars from the Hypervelocity Star survey from which we derive the velocity dispersion profile of the Milky Way halo. The sample is a mix of 74% evolved horizontal branch stars and 26%…
The paucity of hypervelocity stars (HVSs) known to date has severely hampered their potential to investigate the stellar population of the Galactic Centre and the Galactic Potential. The first Gaia data release gives an opportunity to…
We present a maximum-likelihood analysis of galaxy-galaxy lensing effects in galaxy clusters and in the field. The aim is to determine the accuracy and robustness of constraints that can be obtained on galaxy halo properties in both…
Photometric data from the Xuyi Schmidt Telescope Photometric Survey of the Galactic Anticentre (XSTPS-GAC) and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) are used to derive the global structure parameters of the smooth components of the Milky Way.…
Using proper motion measurements from Gaia DR2, we probe the origin of 26 previously known hypervelocity stars (HVSs) around the Milky Way. We find that a significant fraction of these stars have a high probability of originating close to…
We present an empirical method to measure the halo mass function (HMF) of galaxies. We determine the relation between the \hi\ line-width from single-dish observations and the dark matter halo mass ($M_{200}$) inferred from rotation curve…