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Caltech

Astronomy Colloquium

Wednesday, May 8, 2019
4:00pm to 5:00pm
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Cahill, Hameetman Auditorium
Dwarf Galaxies and Their Dark Matter Content
Laura Sales, Assistant Professor, Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Riverside,

Dwarf galaxies are the most numerous type of galaxies in the Universe and largely fascinating objects in their own right. Believed to be the most dark matter dominated objects within the LCDM model, dwarf galaxies pose the most significant challenges to our cosmological scenario. Feedback, star formation, reionization and environment are all believed responsible, to a large extent, for the variations in their observed properties. I will present some of our results using hydrodynamical simulations to study dwarf galaxies in different environments. Using the Illustris simulations we explore high densities regions such as the Virgo cluster and make predictions for the tidal interactions in dwarfs, their dark matter and globular cluster content and the formation of ultra-diffuse dwarfs (UDGs). We transition to isolated dwarfs using the FIRE simulations to make predictions on their interactions with faint satellite companions, being a channel to constraint the Large Magellanic Cloud and their population of associated ultra-faint dwarfs based on the latest GAIA DR2 results.

For more information, please contact Judy McClain by phone at 626-395-4970 or by email at [email protected].