Astrophysical Probes of Dark Matter with LSST

  • Posted on: 13 May 2018
  • By: kbechtol

The goal of the session is to continue building the community of observers and theorists interested in astrophysical probes of dark matter with LSST. Dark matter research lies at the intersection of cosmology, particle physics, and galaxy formation, and involves diverse observational phenomena ranging from microlensing, to Galactic stellar streams, to galaxy-scale strong lenses, to galaxy clusters. As such, the opportunities for dark matter research with LSST span several of the eight currently active LSST Science Collaborations. To help organize efforts across Science Collaborations, nearly 50 scientists gathered in March 2018 for a workshop on "Probing the Nature of Dark Matter with LSST" in Pittsburgh (https://lsstdarkmatter.github.io/), and conversations are ongoing through a series of monthly telecons and on the #desc-dark-matter Slack channel. Current work is focused on identifying the most promising techniques to constrain dark matter particle properties using LSST data and other facilities, and to describe these methods in a series of white papers. Scientists interested in astrophysical probes of dark matter are encouraged to attend this session, present their ideas, and learn more about how to get involved. This session is also well timed with respect to the anticipated call for special observing programs that might be motivated by dark matter science cases.