Constraining the Nature of Dark Matter with Milky Way's Nearest Neighbors
Monday, 18 December 2017 8 a.m. — 9 a.m. MST
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AURA Lecture Hall
The census of Milky Way satellite galaxies provides crucial tests of both galaxy formation models and the broader Cold Dark Matter paradigm. Over two-dozens of new Milky Way satellite candidates have been discovered in the last two years, primarily in data from the Dark Energy Survey (DES). These discoveries double the number of known Milky Way satellite galaxies, leading a huge advance in solving the missing satellite problem. Furthermore, many of these newly discovered dwarf galaxies are excellent targets for providing constraints on WIMP dark matter cross section and MACHO dark matter abundance. In this talk, I will present the latest discoveries of the Milky Way satellite galaxies in DES and show some initial results from a spectroscopic campaign on these satellite candidates using 4-8 meter class telescopes in the southern hemisphere.