Related papers: Could compact stars in globular clusters constrain…
The severity of the mass discrepancy in spiral galaxies is strongly correlated with the central surface brightness of the disk. Progressively lower surface brightness galaxies have ever larger mass discrepancies. No other parameter…
Massive black holes (MBHs) in galactic nuclei are believed to be surrounded by a high density stellar cluster, whose mass is mostly in hard-to-detect faint stars and compact remnants. Such dark cusps dominate the dynamics near the MBH: a…
Globular clusters are gravitationally bound stellar systems containing on the order of 100,000 stars. Due to the high stellar densities in the cores of these clusters, close encounters and even physical collisions between stars are…
A wealth of recent observational studies shows the dark matter in the Milky Way to have the following fundamental properties: 1) there is no detectable dark matter associated with the Galactic disk -- the dark matter is distributed in a…
[Abridged] The analysis of a sample of 52 clusters with precise and hypothesis-parsimonious measurements of mass shows that low mass clusters and groups are not simple scaled-down versions of their massive cousins in terms of stellar…
(Abridged) Using the number and sizes of observed gravitational lenses, I derive upper limits on the dark matter content of elliptical galaxies. Galaxies built from Cold Dark Matter (CDM) mass distributions are too concentrated to…
To date, the presence of dark matter (DM) can be judged only by its gravitational interaction on the visible matter. It is therefore important to find the consequences of this interaction, which can then help to determine both the DM…
Using deep HST/ACS observations of the core of the Perseus Cluster, we identify a large population of dwarf elliptical galaxies down to M_V = -12. All these dwarfs are remarkably smooth in appearance, showing no evidence for internal…
The annihilation of weakly interacting massive particles can provide an important heat source for the first (Pop. III) stars, potentially leading to a new phase of stellar evolution known as a "Dark Star". When dark matter (DM) capture via…
We present the first dynamical study of the globular cluster system of NGC 4636. This giant elliptical galaxy is claimed to be extremely dark matter dominated, according to X-ray observations. Using the VLT with FORS2/MXU, we obtained…
We establish constraints on the mass and abundance of black holes in the Galactic halo by determining their impact on globular clusters which are conventionally considered to be little evolved. Using detailed Monte Carlo simulations and…
The mass function of galaxies and clusters of galaxies can be derived observationally based on different types of observations. In this study we test if these observations can be combined to a consistent picture which is also in accord with…
The conjecture that dark matter in galaxies is mostly cold fractal gas is developed in the more general context of the thermodynamics of the ideal isothermal gas subject to gravitational instability. This simple gas model already contains…
Low luminosity dwarf galaxies provide stringent constraints on the nature of dark matter. Establishing these constraints depends on precise kinematic measurements of individual stars. In this overview for non-specialists, we describe…
It is now widely established that globular clusters host robust populations of white dwarfs, neutron stars, and black holes throughout their lifetimes. Within clusters, dynamical processes enabled by stellar densities thousands to millions…
Dark matter in the form of compact objects with mass $M_{\rm co} \gtrsim 10 M_{\odot}$ can be constrained by its dynamical effects on wide binary stars. Motivated by the recent interest in Primordial Black Hole dark matter, we revisit the…
Clusters of galaxies are self-gravitating systems of mass ~10^14-10^15 Msun. They consist of dark matter (~80 %), hot diffuse intracluster plasma (< 20 %) and a small fraction of stars, dust, and cold gas, mostly locked in galaxies. In most…
We study the vertical stellar distribution of the Milky Way thin disk in detail with particular focus on the outer disk. We treat the galactic disk as a gravitationally coupled, three-component system consisting of stars, atomic hydrogen…
Scenarios that invoke multiple episodes of star formation within young globular clusters (GCs) to explain the observed chemical and photometric anomalies in GCs, require that clusters can retain the stellar ejecta of the stars within them…
It is a well-known fact that the gravitational effect of dark matter in galaxies is only noticeable when the orbital accelerations drop below $a_0 \simeq 2\times 10^{-8}$ cm s$^{-1}$ (Milgrom's Law). This peculiarity of the dynamic…