Zooming into dark matter and proto-galaxies with gravitational lensing
LOCATION: Sexten Primary School - Via Panorama 6, Sexten
DETAILS
Detailed studies of galaxy clusters offer one of the most powerful astrophysical probes of dark matter (DM), whose physical nature continues to elude us, despite a host of direct particle physics and astrophysical experiments. The mapping of the mass distribution of cluster cores, using strong lensing and dynamical techniques, has recently become very accurate, thanks to the combination of deep multi-band HST imaging and VLT integral-field spectroscopy. These studies have revealed intriguing tensions between the inferred substructure and innermost slope of the DM density profile and predictions based on cosmological LambdaCDM simulations. The spectroscopic identification of unprecedented large numbers of multiply lensed sources behind a few massive clusters has been key to these findings, thanks to the development of new high-precision lens models, which in turn have enabled the effective exploitation of these clusters as gravitational telescopes. In this workshop, we will specifically discuss:
1) how to derive high-quality clusters’ mass distributions and density profiles, from kpc to Mpc scales, using all available mass probes: gravitational lensing, galaxy dynamics and X-ray techniques;
2) the comparison between observations and hydro-dynamical simulations including different baryonic and DM micro-physics to constrain the Cold Dark Matter paradigm
3) the exploitation of the lensing magnification effect to probe the uncharted population of low-luminosity, low-mass proto-galaxies at z=3-7, with unparalleled spatial resolution of 10-20 parsecs.
This workshop is by invitation only.
RELATED FILES
FEE
TBD
WORKSHOP CODE FOR PAYMENT
2022ZODA
ORGANIZERS
SOC: Piero Rosati, Claudio Grillo, Amata Mercurio, Mario Nonino