Speaker
Description
The large-scale structure of our Universe is well described by a model in which matter is predominantly Cold Dark Matter (CDM). While CDM was initially thought to have trouble reproducing observations of dwarf galaxies, it has generally become accepted in the last decade that a proper treatment of the gas and stars (baryonic matter) can alleviate those tensions. However, the models of energetic "feedback" from stars that have solved some of the tensions in CDM are now running into trouble solving new problems, specifically the "diversity of rotation curves" problem. The diversity of rotation curves has led to renewed interest in self-interacting dark matter (SIDM) to explain observations. In this talk, I will highlight the degeneracy between galaxy formation and dark matter at dwarf galaxy scales, and progress toward disentangling the two.
