Related papers: dSph Satellite Galaxies without Dark Matter: a Stu…
The abundance of satellite dwarf galaxies has long been considered a crucial test for the current model of cosmology leading to the well-known missing satellite problem. Recent advances in both simulations and observations have allowed to…
Current cosmological models and data suggest the existence of a Cold Dark Matter (DM) component, however the nature of DM particles remains unknown. A favored candidate for DM is a Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP) in the mass…
Estimates of the mass distribution and dark-matter (DM) content of dwarf spheroidal galaxies (dSphs) are usually derived under the assumption that the effect of the tidal field of the host galaxy is negligible over the radial extent probed…
Several astrophysical and cosmological observations suggest the existence of dark matter (DM) through its gravitational effects, yet its nature remains elusive. Despite the lack of DM signals from direct detection experiments, efforts…
The structural evolution of substructure in cold dark matter (CDM) models is investigated combining ``low-resolution'' satellites from cosmological N-body simulations of parent halos with N=10^7 particles with high-resolution individual…
We apply a flexible parametric model, a combination of generalized Plummer profiles, to infer the shapes of the stellar density profiles of the Milky Way's satellite dwarf spheroidal galaxies (dSphs). We apply this model to 40 dSphs using…
I discuss recent progress in dark matter searches, focusing in particular on how rigorous modeling the dark matter distribution in the Galaxy and in its satellite galaxies improves our interpretation of the limits on the annihilation and…
The dwarf spheroidal (dSph) satellites of the Local Group have long been thought to be simple spheroids of stars embedded within extended dark matter halos. Recently, however, evidence for the presence of spatially and kinematically…
The discovery of Ultra-Faint Dwarf (UFD) galaxies in the halo of the Milky Way extends the faint end of the galaxy luminosity function to a few hundred solar luminosities. This extremely low luminosity regime poses a significant challenge…
Recent observations show that the number of stars with very low metallicities in the dwarf spheroidal satellites of the Milky Way is low, despite the low average metallicities of stars in these systems. We undertake numerical simulations of…
We study the abundance of satellites akin to the brightest, classical dwarf spheroidals around galaxies similar in magnitude and isolation to the Milky Way and M31 in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. From a combination of photometric and…
Accurately measuring the masses of white dwarf stars is crucial in many astrophysical contexts (e.g., asteroseismology and cosmochronology). These masses are most commonly determined by fitting a model atmosphere to an observed spectrum;…
We use high-resolution N-body simulations to follow the formation and evolution of tidal streams associated to dwarf spheroidal galaxies (dSphs). The dSph models are embedded in dark matter (DM) haloes with either a centrally-divergent…
Context: Dwarf galaxies can arise from self-gravitating structures emerging from tidal tails. What fraction of the known dwarf galaxies in the Local Universe can have this origin is still a matter of debate. Aims: In our effort to…
Measuring the dark matter distribution in dwarf spheroidal galaxies (dSphs) from stellar kinematics is crucial for indirect dark matter searches, as these distributions set the fluxes for both dark matter annihilation (J-Factor) and decay…
We review numerical work carried out over the last decade on the role of environmental mechanisms in shaping the nature of the faintest galaxies known, dwarf spheroidals (dSphs). In particular we discuss a model in which dSphs originated…
Low mass galaxies are expected to be dark matter dominated even within their centrals. Recently two observations reported two dwarf galaxies in group environment with very little dark matter in their centrals. We explore the population and…
Dwarf spiral galaxies - and in particular the prototypical DDO 154 - are known to be completely dominated by an unseen component. The putative neutralinos - so far the favored explanation for the astronomical dark matter - fail to reproduce…
A brief overview is given about some issues in current astroparticle physics, focusing on the dark matter (DM) problem, where the connection to LHC physics is particularly strong. New data from the Planck satellite has made the evidence in…
We introduce a new physical recipe into the De Lucia and Blaizot version of the Munich semi-analytic model built upon the Millennium dark matter simulation: the tidal stripping of stellar material from satellite galaxies during mergers. To…