Dark matter at the EDGE of galaxy formation

Dark matter at the EDGE of galaxy formation

The Standard Cosmological Model gives a remarkable match to data on large scales in the Universe. However, the model requires two mysterious ingredients: dark matter and dark energy that remain to be understood. In this project, the student will build on an exciting new suite of simulations led by the Surrey astrophysics group, “EDGE”. These model the formation and evolution of the smallest galaxies in the Universe at unprecedented fidelity. They have already been shown to give a remarkable match to the very smallest “ultra-faint” dwarfs (Agertz et al. 2020; Rey et al. 2019; Rey et al. 2020). The student will model galaxies in EDGE at larger mass scales, allowing them to connect the simulations to larger gas rich dwarfs in the nearby Universe, for the first time (c.f. Read et al. 2017). This will (i) make the first steps towards truly “ab-initio” simulations of galaxy formation; (ii) allow the student – by confronting these simulations with exciting new survey data – to obtain new and tight constraints on the mass of thermal relic dark matter particles; and (iii) compare the simulations with exciting new in-house data to explore formation-pathways for “ultra-diffuse” galaxies.

References:

• From quiescent to gas-rich to star-forming low-mass dwarf galaxies
• The mass-metallicity relation as a critical test of galaxy formation physics
• The Origin of Scatter in Ultra-faint Dwarf Stellar Masses and Surface Brightnesses
• The stellar mass-halo mass relation of isolated field dwarfs: a critical test of ΛCDM at the edge of galaxy formation