A significant fraction of the Universe remains effectively invisible : black holes emit no light that can reveal them directly, and dark matter interacts so weakly with radiation that its presence must be inferred from its gravitational effects. Yet these elusive components play a central role in the formation, evolution, and mass distribution of galaxies, motivating efforts to study them indirectly through their influence on surrounding baryonic structures. My research uses the kinematic signatures of resolved stellar populations to trace the distribution of such dark components, from intermediate-mass black holes in globular clusters, supermassive ones in the center of galaxies to dark matter halos in dwarf galaxies. In this seminar, I will focus on the latter by presenting recent work on the interplay between dark matter and the stellar structure of dwarf galaxies, discussing topics such as the cusp–core problem and the dynamical imprint of hierarchical dark matter substructure. I will conclude by outlining ongoing initiatives to obtain more complete observational constraints and by commenting on how I envision to incorporate these efforts into the landscape of the LIRA laboratory.
Searching a Hidden Universe
Mercredi 26 novembre 2025
de
14:00 à
15:30
Salle de conférence du Chateau
