Related papers: Uncertainties in the Galactic dark matter distribu…
The quest for the elusive dark matter (DM) that permeates the Universe (and in general the search for signatures of Physics beyond the Standard Model at astronomical scales) provides a unique opportunity and a tough challenge to the…
An axially symmetric galactic gravitational model composed of a dense, massive and spherical nucleus with an additional dark matter halo component was used, to distinguish between the regular and chaotic character of orbits of stars that…
The dark matter problem is almost a century old. Since the 1930s evidence has been growing that our cosmos is dominated by a new form of non-baryonic matter, that holds galaxies and clusters together and influences cosmic structures up to…
Dark matter annihilating in our Galaxy's halo and elsewhere in the universe is expected to generate a diffuse flux of gamma rays, potentially observable with next generation satellite-based experiments, such as GLAST. In this article, we…
A standard theoretical paradigm for the formation of large-scale structure in the distribution of galaxies has now been established, based on the gravitational instability of cold dark matter in a background cosmology dominated by vacuum…
Typically, stars in galaxies have higher velocities than predicted by Newtonian gravity in conjunction with observable galactic matter. To account for the phenomenon, some researchers modified Newtonian gravitation; others introduced dark…
Estimating ages for stars is difficult at best, but Galactic problems have their own requirements that go beyond those for other areas of astrophysics. As in other areas, asteroseismology is helping, and in this review I discuss some of the…
The circular velocity curve traced by stars provides a direct means of investigating the potential and mass distribution of the Milky Way. Recent measurements of the Galaxy's rotation curve have revealed a significant decrease in velocity…
We investigate the impact of nonaxisymmetric structure on estimates of galaxy inclinations and position angles. A new minimization technique is used to obtain estimates of inclination and position angle from a global fit to either…
We use high-resolution, hydrodynamic, galaxy simulations from the Latte suite of FIRE-2 simulations to investigate the inherent variation of dark matter in sub-sampled regions around the Solar Circle of a Milky Way-type analogue galaxy and…
The recent observations of galaxy and dark matter clumpy distributions have provided new elements to the understating of the problem of cosmological structure formation. The strong clumpiness characterizing galaxy structures seems to be…
The Milky Way's dwarf spheroidal satellites include the nearest, smallest and least luminous galaxies known. They also exhibit the largest discrepancies between dynamical and luminous masses. This article reviews the development of…
(Abridged) Axisymmetric models of the Milky Way exhibit strong interrelations between the Galactic constants (R_0 and T_0), the stellar columndensity (S_*) and the shape of the dark matter (DM) halo. Here we present analytical relations…
Dark matter, believed to be present in many galaxies, is interpreted as a hydrodynamical system in interaction with the gravitational field and with nothing else. The gravitational field of our Galaxy can be inferred from observation of…
The Milky Way's satellites provide unique information about the density of the Galactic halo at large radii. The inclusion of even a few rather inaccurate proper motions resolves an ambiguity in older mass estimates in favour of higher…
A parameterized model of the mass distribution within the Milky Way is fitted to the available observational constraints. The most important single parameter is the ratio of the scale length R_d* of the stellar disk to R0. The disk and…
The dynamical and virial mass of the Milky Way galaxy is estimated using latest high precision stellar halo and dwarf galaxy satellite kinematics. The new data suggest the Galaxy is a highly compact, classically thermalized object.…
The Gaia mission, with its unprecedented astrometric and photometric precision, combined with its Radial Velocity Spectrometer, will provide to the astronomical community a wealth of necessary constraints to disentangle between the…
Tidal debris streams from galaxy satellites can provide insight into the dark matter distribution in halos. This is because we have more information about stars in a debris structure than about a purely random population of stars: we know…
In the past several years high resolution kinematic data sets from Milky Way satellite galaxies have confirmed earlier indications that these systems are dark matter dominated objects. Further understanding of what these galaxies reveal…