Niels Bohr Institutet > Kalender - det sker på NBI > 2009 > Dark matter characteri...

Dark matter characterization from X-ray observations

Abstract: Two different approaches have been followed to characterize the dark matter:

i) Using X-ray observations of dark matter dense regions in various objects, the dark matter emission has been constrained in general. For specific candidates such as sterile neutrinos and axions the emission constraints have been converted to constraints in the characterizing parameter space.

ii) The validity of basic assumptions made when deriving the mass of galaxy clusters from X-ray observations has been tested. In the specific case of Abell 1689, high quality data allowed for the identification and exclusion of substructure improving the agreement between the mass profiles obtained from X-ray and gravitational lensing analyses.

Opponents:

• Assist. prof. Tesla Jeltema, Morrison Fellow, University of California, Lick Observatory
• Prof. Julien Lesgourgues, Institut de Physique Théorique/CERN Assist.
• prof. Darach J. Watson, DARK