Descripción del proyecto
Nuevos conocimientos sobre la materia oscura y la formación de las galaxias enanas
El modelo lambda-materia oscura fría (ΛCDM, por sus siglas en inglés) es la última encarnación de nuestra comprensión del cosmos y postula que el Universo está formado principalmente por materia oscura. Además, proporciona una descripción razonable de la abundancia, la estructura y el agrupamiento de los halos de materia oscura, regiones donde se forman las galaxias. A pesar de su éxito, todavía no está claro si este modelo puede describir con precisión la formación de las galaxias enanas. El equipo del proyecto DarkGalaxies, financiado con fondos europeos, investigará el modelo ΛCDM a unas escalas pequeñas sin precedentes basándose en una predicción fundamental del modelo: la existencia de galaxias oscuras cercanas. Los resultados del proyecto podrían mejorar la comprensión de la naturaleza de la materia oscura y de la formación de estructuras a pequeñas escalas cósmicas.
Objetivo
The currently favoured Lambda-Cold-Dark-Matter (ΛCDM) cosmological model makes specific predictions about the
abundance, structure and clustering of dark matter halos (DMHs), the sites where galaxies form. These predictions are
accurate at describing large scale observations. On smaller scales, the agreement between ΛCDM and observations of
dwarf galaxies is unclear because (i) the structure of DMHs depends on particularities of different galaxy formation models,
and (ii) observations of dwarfs suffer from sizable uncertainties. Is ΛCDM successful on small scales? A definite answer to
this major open question may either reveal the nature of DM or change dramatically our understanding of structure formation
in the Universe. My research will deliver the foundations to probe ΛCDM on unprecedented small scales by exploiting a
fundamental prediction of the model: the existence of nearby DM-dominated “dark” galaxies (so-called RELHICs). RELHICs
are pristine collapsed DMHs that contain sufficient gas leftover from the epoch of reionization to recombine and emit
radiation that can be observed in 21 cm (or recombination lines) but without becoming self-shielding and forming stars.
Firstly, I will develop and analyse high-resolution hydrodynamical simulations performed with state-of-the-art numerical
codes that include cutting-edge galaxy formation and radiative-transfer (RT) models to predict the abundance and clustering
of RELHICs. Secondly, I will design robust survey strategies targeted at detecting RELHICs with current and upcoming
observing facilities (e.g. ALMA, FAST, MEERKAT, WALLABY). The detection and characterization of REHICs will offer an
unprecedented and clean probe to ΛCDM on scales that have not yet been probed.
My extensive expertise in numerical simulations, cosmology and galaxy formation, combined with that of Prof. Michele
Fumagalli in RT and physics of the interstellar medium will enable me to materialize my predictions into observational probes.
Ámbito científico
Programa(s)
Régimen de financiación
MSCA-IF-EF-ST - Standard EFCoordinador
20126 MILANO
Italia