Astronomy Colloquium / Fall 2006

November 21st

Prof. Houjun Mo

University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Establishing the Relationship Between Galaxies and Dark Matter

I will describe two methods to establish the relationship between galaxies and dark matter. One is based the conditional luminosity function model, which links galaxies and dark matter halos by matching the number density and clustering properties of galaxies with those of dark matter halos in the current CDM model. The other is based on galaxy systems identified from large redshift surveys of galaxies. The galaxy - dark halo relationship established by these two methods matches well. The results provide important clue about how light traces mass in the universe and how galaxies form in the cosmic density field.