Searching for the Universal Density Profile of Dark Matter Halos

• Grant number: 13/21726-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: December 01, 2013
• End date: August 31, 2015
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Astronomy - Extragalactic Astrophysics
• Principal Investigator: Jose Ademir Sales de Lima
• Grantee: Christiane Frigerio Martins
• Host Institution: Instituto de Astronomia, Geofísica e Ciências Atmosféricas (IAG). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Rotation Curves of Spiral Galaxies reveal the presence of an enormous quantity of a mysterious component dominating the dynamics of these objects, called Dark Matter. High resolution observations allow the construction of mass models including a well defined dark matter halo profile with a cored central density. Moreover there exists amazing relations between the structural parameters of invisible and luminous matter, that are bound to play a decisive role in investigating the Nature of "Dark Matter Phenomenon" and in building a successful theory of Galaxy Formation.Cusped halo profiles, a crucial feature of standard› Cold Dark Matter scenario, are inconsistent with available kinematical data, being this intriguing discrepancy among the most important debate in Astroparticle Physics. A theoretical study for the empirical distribution of dark matter will be developed in this project, based on non-extensive statistics, looking toward a universal profile that meets these remarkable systematics.