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Power of halometry

Siddharth Mishra-Sharma, Ken Van Tilburg, and Neal Weiner
Phys. Rev. D 102, 023026 – Published 22 July 2020
Physics logo See synopsis: Searching for Dark Matter in Distorted Starlight

Abstract

Astrometric weak gravitational lensing is a powerful probe of the distribution of matter on sub-Galactic scales, which harbor important information about the fundamental nature of dark matter. We propose a novel method that utilizes angular power spectra to search for the correlated pattern of apparent motions of celestial objects induced from time-dependent lensing by a population of Galactic subhalos. Application of this method to upcoming astrometric datasets will allow for the direct measurement of the properties of Galactic substructure, with implications for the underlying particle physics. We show that, with near-future astrometric observations, it may be possible to statistically detect populations of cold dark matter subhalos, compact objects, as well as density fluctuations sourced by scalar field dark matter. Currently unconstrained parameter space will already be accessible using upcoming data from the ongoing Gaia mission.

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  • Received 23 March 2020
  • Accepted 17 June 2020

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.102.023026

© 2020 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Gravitation, Cosmology & AstrophysicsParticles & Fields

synopsis

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Searching for Dark Matter in Distorted Starlight

Published 22 July 2020

Statistical studies of the motions of millions of stars may reveal the subtle imprint of dark matter.

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Authors & Affiliations

Siddharth Mishra-Sharma1,*, Ken Van Tilburg2,1,3,†, and Neal Weiner1,‡

  • 1Center for Cosmology and Particle Physics, Department of Physics, New York University, New York, New York 10003, USA
  • 2Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA
  • 3School of Natural Sciences, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, New Jersey 08540, USA

  • *sm8383@nyu.edu
  • kvt@kitp.ucsb.edu
  • neal.weiner@nyu.edu

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Issue

Vol. 102, Iss. 2 — 15 July 2020

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