Related papers: The Edge of the Galaxy
We measure the circular velocity curve $v_{\rm c}(R)$ of the Milky Way with the highest precision to date across Galactocentric distances of $5\leq R \leq 25$ kpc. Our analysis draws on the $6$-dimensional phase-space coordinates of…
In the frame of indirect dark matter searches we investigate the flux of high-energy $\gamma$-ray photons produced by annihilation of dark matter in caustics within our Galaxy under the hypothesis that the bulk of dark matter is composed of…
There is accumulating evidence that the faint end of the galaxy luminosity function might be very different in different locations. The luminosity function might be rising in rich clusters and flat or declining in regions of low density. If…
The splashback radius of a dark matter halo, which corresponds to the first apocenter radius reached by infalling matter and substructures, has been detected around galaxy clusters using a multitude of observational methods, including weak…
We derive the mass model of the Milky Way (MW) using a cored dark matter (DM) halo profile and recent data. The method used consists in fitting a spherically symmetric model of the Galaxy with a Burkert DM halo profile to available data: MW…
If the favored hierarchical cosmological model is correct, then the Milky Way system should have accreted and subsequently tidally destroyed ~100 low-mass galaxies in the past ~12 Gyr. We model this process using a hybrid semi-analytic plus…
We use numerical simulations to examine the substructure within galactic and cluster mass halos that form within a hierarchical universe. Clusters are easily reproduced with a steep mass spectrum of thousands of substructure clumps that…
A study of the group properties of galaxies in our immediate neighborhood provides a singular opportunity to observationally constrain the halo mass function, a fundamental characterization of galaxy formation. Detailed studies of…
We report new constraints on the local escape speed of our Galaxy. Our analysis is based on a sample of high velocity stars from the RAVE survey and two previously published datasets. We use cosmological simulations of disk galaxy formation…
The boundaries of cold dark matter halos are commonly defined to enclose a density contrast $\Delta$ relative to a reference (mean or critical) density. We argue that a more physical boundary of halos is the radius at which accreted matter…
Possible observational consequences of dark matter in the Galaxy in the form of dense molecular gas clouds - clumpuscules of masses $M_c\sim 10^{-3} \msun$ and radii $R_c\sim 3\times 10^{13}$ cm - are considered. Recent models of the…
We use weak lensing observations to make the first measurement of the characteristic depletion radius, one of the three radii that characterize the region where matter is being depleted by growing haloes. The lenses are taken from the halo…
Studies of galaxy surveys in the context of the cold dark matter paradigm have shown that the mass of the dark matter halo and the total stellar mass are coupled through a function that varies smoothly with mass. Their average ratio…
The gas content of the complete compilation of Local Group dwarf galaxies (119 within 2 Mpc) is presented using HI survey data. Within the virial radius of the Milky Way (224 kpc here), 53 of 55 dwarf galaxies are devoid of gas to limits of…
We present minimum chi-squared fits of power law and Hernquist density profiles to F-turnoff stars in eight 2.5 deg wide stripes of SDSS data: five in the North Galactic Cap and three in the South Galactic cap. Portions of the stellar…
The atomic hydrogen gas (HI) disk in the outer region (beyond ~10 kpc from the centre) of Milky Way can provide valuable information about the structure of the dark matter halo. The recent 3-D thickness map of the outer HI disk from the all…
The dark matter distribution in the very inner region of our Galaxy is still in debate. In the N-body simulations a cuspy dark matter halo density profile is favored. Several dissipative baryonic processes however are found to be able to…
Galaxy edges or truncations are low-surface-brightness (LSB) features located in the galaxy outskirts that delimit the distance up to where the gas density enables efficient star formation. As such, they could be interpreted as a…
CDM simulations predict that there are hundreds of lumps of with masses greater than 10e7 solar masses in the Milky Way halo. However, we know of only a dozen dwarf satellites close to this mass. Are these lumps simply lacking in stars or…
We use the kinematics of $\sim200\,000$ giant stars that lie within $\sim 1.5$ kpc of the plane to measure the vertical profile of mass density near the Sun. We find that the dark mass contained within the isodensity surface of the dark…