A Path to Detecting Dark Sector Physics using Astrophysical Sub-Structure

Sub-galactic astrophysical structure provides probes into the microscopic nature of the dark sector and its dark matter content. For example, dark matter with sizable self interactions and / or dissipation can leave distinctive signatures on the properties of satellite galaxies around Milky Way-like hosts. In a recent study, I placed novel constraints on a generic class of self-interacting dark matter models by analyzing a number of Milky Way dwarf galaxies. The results push these models into a parameter space with a very specific and new prediction: self-interactions within satellite galaxies can be either very large (so large that new dynamical effects become important), or very small (so small that such models are usually thought of as collisionless), but not intermediate. Specifically, if self-interactions are large, some dwarfs of the Milky Way must be undergoing a process of gravothermal collapse, and this process has a number of distinct observational predictions which can be searched for in current and upcoming data. The same models predict dissipation in certain regions of the parameter space; this offers additional observable signatures. In this talk, I will lay out a program to fully cover the parameter space of such models within the next few years by utilizing new theoretical understanding as well as upcoming observational data.

*Dr Slone is a candidate for a position in the department