Via Lactea II - A high-resolution view of galactic dark matter

Michael Kuhlen, Institute for Advanced Study

Abstract
It is a clear unique prediction of the cold dark matter paradigm of cosmological structure formation that galaxies form hierarchically and are embedded in massive, extended dark halos teeming with self-bound substructure or "subhalos". The amount and spatial distribution of subhalos around their host provide unique information and clues on the galaxy assembly process and the nature of the dark matter. I will present results from "Via Lactea II", the most recent in a series of high resolution numerical simulations of Galactic CDM substructure, with a particular focus on the possibility of GLAST detecting gamma-rays from DM annihilations in the centers of subhalos.