Faint Galaxies and Small Halos

Download or read book Faint Galaxies and Small Halos written by Ethan Oliver Nadler and published by . This book was released on 2021 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This thesis addresses the intersection of dark matter and galaxy formation physics by modeling the faintest galaxies in the Universe in a cosmological context. In the first part of this work, I present an empirical model for the connection between faint galaxies and small dark matter halos. Combining this model with tailored cosmological simulations of Milky Way analogs and state-of-the-art satellite galaxy observations yields new insights into dwarf galaxy formation and hierarchical structure formation. Next, I show that these same dwarf galaxy observations place stringent constraints on microphysical dark matter properties including its warmth, self-interactions, Standard Model interactions, minimum particle mass, and formation epoch. Finally, I describe a unified framework that combines dark matter constraints from dwarf galaxies and strong gravitational lensing, paving the way for next-generation surveys of small-scale cosmic structure to deliver unprecedented insights into dark matter physics.