Related papers: Illuminating the Darkest Galaxies
The dark matter content of globular clusters, highly compact gravity-bound stellar systems, is unknown. It is also generally unknow*able*, due to their mass-to-light ratios typically ranging between 1$-$3 in solar units, accommodating a…
Recent results from numerical simulations and models of galaxy formation suggest that recently discovered ultra-faint compact stellar systems (UFCSs) in the halo of the Milky Way (MW) may be some of the smallest and faintest galaxies. If…
Dark matter-only simulations predict that dark matter halos have steep, cuspy inner density profiles, while observations of dwarf galaxies find a range of inner slopes that are often much shallower. There is debate whether this discrepancy…
The presence of dark matter is nowadays widely supported by a large body of astronomical and cosmological observations. A large amount of dark matter is expected to be present in the central region of the Milky Way. Very-high-energy (>100…
The nature of Dark Matter (DM) is one of the most debated questions of contemporary physics. Ground-based arrays of Cherenkov telescopes such as the High Energy Spectroscopic System (H.E.S.S.) search for DM signatures through the detection…
We correct the observed Milky Way satellite luminosity function for luminosity bias using published completeness limits for the Sloan Digital Sky Survey DR5. Assuming that the spatial distribution of Milky Way satellites tracks the subhalos…
While galaxy rotation curves provide one of the most powerful methods for measuring dark matter profiles in the inner regions of rotation-supported galaxies, at the dwarf scale there are factors that can complicate this analysis. Given the…
The fact that dark matter (DM), thus far, has revealed itself only on scales of galaxies and larger, again thrusts onto astrophysics the opportunity and the responsibility to confront the age old mystery "What is the nature of matter?" By…
Most of the matter in the universe is not luminous and can be observed directly only through its gravitational effect. An emerging technique called weak gravitational lensing uses background galaxies to reveal the foreground dark matter…
In this Report we discuss the four complementary searches for the identity of dark matter: direct detection experiments that look for dark matter interacting in the lab, indirect detection experiments that connect lab signals to dark matter…
In this pedestrian approach I give my personal point of view on the various problems posed by dark matter in the universe. After a brief historical overview I discuss the various solutions stemming from high energy particle physics, and the…
We measure the projected density profile, shape and alignment of the stellar and dark matter mass distribution in 11 strong-lens galaxies. We find that the projected dark matter density profile - under the assumption of a Chabrier stellar…
Dark matter in the form of weakly interacting massive particles is predicted to become gravitationally captured and accumulate in stars. While the subsequent annihilations of such particles lead to the injection of energy into stellar…
In many models of dark matter (DM), several production mechanisms contribute to its final abundance, often leading to a non-thermal momentum distribution. This makes it more difficult to assess whether such a model is consistent with…
The standard cold dark matter plus cosmological constant model predicts that galaxies form within dark-matter haloes, and that low-mass galaxies are more dark-matter dominated than massive ones. The unexpected discovery of two low-mass…
A generic feature of weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) dark matter models is the emission of photons over a broad energy band resulting from the stable yields of dark matter pair annihilation. Inverse Compton scattering off cosmic…
Direct dark matter detection experiments search for rare signals induced by hypothetical, galactic dark matter particles in low-background detectors operated deep underground. I will briefly review the direct detection principles, the…
The identification of the nature of dark matter is one of the most important problems confronting particle physics. Current observational constraints permit the mass of the dark matter to range from $10^{-22}$ eV - $10^{48}$ GeV. Given the…
Indirect dark matter searches targeting dwarf spheroidal galaxies (dSphs) have matured rapidly during the past decade. This has been because of the substantial increase in kinematic data sets from the dSphs, the new dSphs that have been…
Dwarf galaxies are widely believed to be among the best targets for indirect dark matter searches using high-energy gamma rays; and indeed gamma-ray emission from these objects has long been a subject of detailed study for ground-based…