Dark matter in galaxies: from Astrophysics to Fundamental Physics

• Grant number: 16/26288-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: February 01, 2017
• End date: February 28, 2019
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Physics - Elementary Particle Physics and Fields
• Principal Investigator: Nathan Jacob Berkovits
• Grantee: Ekaterina Karukes
• Host Institution: Instituto de Física Teórica (IFT). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de São Paulo. São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 16/01343-7 - ICTP South American Institute for Fundamental Research: a regional center for theoretical physics, AP.ESP

Abstract

The research that I am going to carry on during my postdoc at ICTP-SAIFR is based on the dark matter studies in galaxies by using different approaches. One of the project focuses on the studying and improving the rotation curve of the milky way galaxy. One way to do so is to include in the analysis of the rotation curve compilation the available data of the so-called blue-horizontal branch stars. The latter are excellent tracers of the galactic halo dynamics, therefore including them might greatly extend the galactic rotation curve.The other project I will be interested to develop is testing the dwarf rotationally supported galaxies as possible targets for the indirect dark matter searches. It is useful to stress that these galaxies, as well as dwarf spheroidal galaxies (that are typically used for the indirect searches), are dark matter dominated at all radii. However, the main difference of these two types of dwarf galaxies is that in dwarf rotationally supported galaxies the kinematics is rather simple. Therefore, their dark matter distribution can be very well constrained, which is crucial for the estimation of the astrophysical factorand, consequently, for the estimation of the flux of photons from dark matter annihilation. Additionally, by using the kinematical observations of the rotation curvesof galaxies is possible to test some alternative dark matter models such as self-interacting dark matter and warm dark matter. These tests are important for our understanding of whether these models are able to alleviate the small-scale problems (e.g. core-cusp/dark matter deficit problem, missing satellite problem and too big to fail problem). (AU)

Scientific publications

(4)

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

KARUKES, E., V; BENITO, M.; IOCCO, F.; TROTTA, R.; GERINGER-SAMETH, A.. Bayesian reconstruction of the Milky Way dark matter distribution. Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, v. N/A, n. 9, p. 27-pg., 2019-09-01. (16/26288-9, 16/50006-3)

GAMMALDI, V; KARUKES, E.; SALUCCI, P.. Theoretical predictions for dark matter detection in dwarf irregular galaxies with gamma rays. Physical Review D, v. 98, n. 8, OCT 16 2018. (16/26288-9)

KARUKES, V, E.; BENITO, M.; IOCCO, F.; TROTTA, R.; GERINGER-SAMETH, A.. Bayesian reconstruction of the Milky Way dark matter distribution. Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, n. 9, SEP 2019. (16/50006-3, 16/26288-9)

GAMMALDI, V; KARUKES, E.; SALUCCI, P.. Theoretical predictions for dark matter detection in dwarf irregular galaxies with gamma rays. PHYSICAL REVIEW D, v. 98, n. 8, p. 24-pg., 2018-10-16. (16/26288-9)