Research

I use cosmological zoom-in simulations of Milky Way-mass dark matter halos from the Phat ELVIS (Exploring the Local Volume In Simulations) suite to understand the role of the central galaxy in shaping the abundance and properties of dark matter subhalos.

Testing ΛCDM with DM subhalos

Below is a place holder paragraph!

One of the fundamental predictions of the concordance cosmological model of dark energy plus cold dark matter (ΛCDM), with its hierarchical structure formation, is the existence and survival of of structure across an enormous range of scales, including below the scale at which we think galaxies can form. Our own Galaxy is of no exception: the Milky Way and its dark matter halo likely contain hundreds of very low-luminosity galaxies that are dominated by dark matter, as well as yet-undetected subhalos that are completely dark. Verifying the existence and survival of dark matter subhalos is of utmost importance in modern cosmology as they may hold the key to confirming the CDM model or to indicating the need to consider alternative dark matter models.

• hyunsukong[at]utexas[.]edu
• PMA 16.212