Departmental Colloquium

Precision Cosmology and the Structure of Nearby Galaxies

Kristine Spekkens
RMC

Time
Wed. March 26, 2008     3:40 PM     Stirling A

Abstract

Recent cosmological measurements combined with simulations of the growth of structure now explain an impressive array of astrophysical phenomena on large scales and at high redshift. By contrast, there has been limited progress towards understanding the structure of nearby galaxies in the "era of precision cosmology". In this talk I will highlight some key differences between the kinematics of spiral galaxies and predictions from the standard galaxy formation framework, and I'll present a new velocity field model to assess the role of non-circular motions in generating some of these discrepancies. I will also discuss recent results legacy-style surveys with the Arecibo radio telescope that constrain the abundance of low-mass, HI-rich starless halos in the local volume.

Refreshments will be available before the talk

List of upcoming talks and colloquia