Dark matter makes up 80% of the mass of the Universe, but its identity remains mysterious. In this talk, I will first give an overview of cosmological evidence and terrestrial dark matter searches. Then I will focus on diverse dark matter distributions in galactic systems ranging from dwarf galaxies to galaxy clusters, and show that a new dark matter theory, Self-Interacting Dark Matter (SIDM), can explain them in a unified way. I will further discuss other intriguing astrophysical implications of SIDM, such as the origin of supermassive black holes in the early Universe.
Short bio:
Yu received his PhD at the University of Maryland in 2007, and was a postdoc researcher at University of California, Irvine, and University of Michigan. Starting from 2013, he has been a faculty member at University of California, Riverside. Yu works on theoretical particle physics and its interplay with astrophysics and cosmology. His recent research interests include identifying the nature of dark matter and the origin of supermassive black holes. Yu is the PI of “Exploring the Dark Sector” project supported by the John Templeton Foundation. His work is also supported by the US Department of Energy and NASA.