Speaker Name:
Prof. Erwin de Blok
Speaker Affiliation:
Astronomy Department, UCT
Talk Subject:
Dark Matter in Spiral Galaxies
Date:
10/10/2007 - 13:00
Venue:
Postgraduate Seminar Room, Otto Beit Building
Rotation curves of galaxies provide one of the strongest indications for the presence of dark matter in galaxies, yet their shape does not agree with predictions derived from sophisticated cosmological computer simulations of the universe. This is a problem for the current Cold Dark Matter model. I discuss some of the techniques used to derive and analyse a rotation curve, discuss the discrepancy with computer simulations, and possible ways out that might help improve our understanding of dark matter.