Title: The LMC vs. the Milky Way: Challenges and New Opportunities for Tests of CDM Theory
Speaker: Gurtina Besla, University of Arizona
Recent advancements in astrometry and in cosmological models of dark matter halo growth have significantly changed our understanding of the dynamics of the Local Group. The most dramatic changes owe to a new picture of the dynamics of the Milky Way’s most massive satellite galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) - the LMC is most likely on its first passage about the Milky Way and ten times larger in mass than previously assumed. This presents new (surmountable) challenges to the study of Near Field Cosmology, wherein local stellar streams, satellite galaxies, globular clusters and stars are used as probes of the dark matter distribution of our Galaxy. In addition, the LMC also presents exciting opportunities to test CDM theory in novel ways using all-sky astrometric and photometric surveys.
