Pheno & Vino Seminar | Cara Giovanetti, Princeton | "Dynamical Friction in a Fuzzy Dark Matter Universe" | Jadwin Hall

Date
Feb 4, 2020, 4:00 pm4:00 pm
Location
Jadwin 303

Speaker

Details

Event Description

Fuzzy Dark Matter (FDM) is a model of dark matter consisting of an ultralight scalar whose quantum mechanical nature is manifest at kiloparsec scales.  As such, an object moving through an FDM halo will experience a different drag force due to dynamical friction than an object passing through a classical dark matter halo.  This effect is pronounced enough that it can be observed when measuring the infall times of satellites as they spiral in towards galaxy centers.  In this talk I will explore the use of analytical theory and numerical simulations to determine the magnitude of this effect.  I will also apply these results to different astrophysical systems and discuss the use of dynamical friction to support or rule out FDM as a dark matter candidate.