Astronomy Colloquium / Fall 2008

October 8

Prof. Piero Madau

University of California Santa Cruz

The Via Lactea Project: A Glimpse into the Invisible World of Dark Matter

Revealing the nature of dark matter is fundamental to cosmology and particle physics. It is a clear, unique prediction of cold dark matter theories that galaxies are built hierarchically and are embedded in massive, extended halos teeming with self-bound "subhalos". I will present results from the "Via Lactea Project", a suite of the largest simulations to date of Galactic dark matter substructure. The lumpiness seen in these simulations has implications for indirect dark matter detection experiments, the epoch of first light, gravitational lensing, stellar streams, and the Local Group dwarf galaxy population.