Bulletin of the American Physical Society
APS April Meeting 2016
Volume 61, Number 6
Saturday–Tuesday, April 16–19, 2016; Salt Lake City, Utah
Session E4: Local Universe CosmologyInvited
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Sponsoring Units: DAP Chair: Paul Shapiro, University of Texas Room: Ballroom C |
Saturday, April 16, 2016 3:30PM - 4:06PM |
E4.00001: Cosmic Flows and the Structure of the Local Universe Invited Speaker: Matthias Steinmetz The Local Volume is the area of the cosmos we can analyze in most detail with respect to the properties of its galaxy population, their abundance, their inner structure, their distribution, and their formation. Indeed, many challenges of the cosmological concordance model such as the substructure crisis or the surprising occurrence of vast planes of satellite galaxies are intimately linked to observations of the local galaxy population. However, owing to the peculiar environment of our Milky Way system and its cosmic neighborhood, the Local Volume may also be severely biased.~ Cosmography, i.e. the reconstruction of the local cosmic web from cosmic flows, and constrained simulations of structure formation as a tool to produce simulated local group analogues provide a powerful method to analyze and quantify these biases. Possible applications include the analysis of the local distribution of dwarf galaxies around luminous galaxies and the characterization of the mass accretion history of these objects. Thanks to the extension of galaxy velocity data out to distances in excess of 200Mpc, we are now capable to reconstruct the 3D matter distribution out to these distances, thus constraining the formation history of object such as the Virgo Cluster. [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, April 16, 2016 4:06PM - 4:42PM |
E4.00002: Observing Dwarf Galaxies in the Local Universe Invited Speaker: Joshua Simon Dwarf galaxies in the Local Group are key probes of both dark matter and galaxy formation. They are the smallest, oldest, most dark matter-dominated, and least chemically enriched stellar systems currently known. However, despite two decades of major computational, theoretical, and observational advances in this field, we are still working toward a complete understanding of star and galaxy formation at the faint end of the galaxy luminosity function. In the last year, large sky surveys such as the Dark Energy Survey and Pan-STARRS have made an unprecedented series of discoveries, nearly doubling the population of Milky Way satellite galaxies that was known at the start of 2015. This increase in the number of nearby dwarfs may significantly improve the sensitivity of searches for dark matter annihilation radiation. Many of these new dwarfs are likely to have originated as satellites of the Magellanic Clouds, providing a unique opportunity to study the effect of galactic environment on the formation of the faintest dwarfs. I will provide an overview of recent discoveries and how they fit in to the previously known population of nearby dwarf galaxies, highlighting a few of the most interesting objects from the perspective of dark matter and stellar nucleosynthesis. [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, April 16, 2016 4:42PM - 5:18PM |
E4.00003: Testing the LCDM Cosmology with Observations of the Local Group Invited Speaker: Michael Boylan-Kolchin The local Universe provides a unique and powerful way to explore galaxy formation and cosmological physics. Through measurements of the abundances, kinematics, and chemical composition of nearby systems that can be studied in exquisite detail, we can learn about the initial spectrum of cosmological density fluctuations, galaxy formation, dark matter physics, and processes at cosmic dawn that might otherwise remain unobservable. I will summarize some of the new and surprising results in this rapidly-changing subject of "near-field cosmology" and discuss how these results are driving advances in both astronomy and particle physics. [Preview Abstract] |
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