Merging Galaxy Clusters and the Nature of Dark Matter


Thursday, 17 January 2013 1:30 p.m. — 2 p.m. MST

AURA Lecture Hall

NOIRLab South Colloquia
DAVID WITTMAN (University of California Davis and NOAO South Visiting Astronomer)

Dark Matter is one of the great outstanding mysteries. Although still in its infancy, the study of merging galaxyclusters has been shown to be one of the best means of determining the nature of dark matter. However to realizethis potential requires a concerted effort on the part ofastronomers and computational theorists, due to thenecessity to compare simulations and observations of realsystems. My talk describes recent work in this area.