Thursday, February 18, 3:30 p.m.
2015 McPherson Laboratory

Dark matter and baryons in dwarf spheroidal galaxies

Rosemary Wyse
Johns Hopkins University

The physical properties of dark matter particles should have observable effects on the scales of galaxies like the Milky Way and their satellites. The kinematics of member stars reveal that the lowest luminosity galaxies in the Local Group are the most dark-matter dominated systems. New large datasets allow one to go further, and determine systematic properties of their dark matter haloes, including the mass density profile. Spectroscopy provides also chemical abundances, and insight into star formation and associated 'feedback' at early epochs. I will summarise recent results, using new modeling techniques and unprecedented large samples of stars, emphasizing the critical role of the dwarf spheroidal galaxies in understanding both dark matter and the baryonic processes that shape galaxy evolution.