Mountains are closed for the summer - time to exercise those brains! Event: There will be a FREE informal dialogue, “Small Dwarfs, Tall Shadows,” given by Professors Gurtina Besla, University of Arizona, and Vasily Belokurov, University of Cambridge, at 5:30 PM Thursday, May 29 at the Aspen Center for Physics, 6th and Gillespie. No, this is not a deconstruction of recent plot developments in the Game of Thrones! Dwarf galaxies are the smallest galaxies in the universe, representing the extreme end of galaxy formation. Observations of these small galaxies have cast a surprisingly tall shadow over the standard theoretical models of galaxy and structure formation, i.e. what is called Lambda cold dark matter (LCDM) theory. While these galaxies have very few stars, they are expected by LCDM theory to be enshrouded within massive dark matter haloes. However, the properties of these halos inferred from observations have left theorists scratching their heads. We will provide a lively dialogue about the puzzles and progress made by observers and theorists alike to understand these tiny troublemakers.
Posted on: Wed, 28 May 2014 22:01:22 +0000