The halo mass distribution as probe of cosmology and astrophysics

by Dr Pier Stefano Corasaniti (LUX, Observatoire de Paris)

Thursday 9 Jul 2026, 12:30 → 13:30 Europe/Rome

1/1-2 - Aula "C. Voci" (Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia - Edificio Marzolo)

Dark matter halos are the fundamental building blocks of cosmic structure formation. They provide the gravitational wells into which baryonic gas collapses, giving rise to the stars and galaxies observed today. The internal mass distribution of halos reflects both their hierarchical assembly history and the complex baryonic processes that shape their evolution. As a result, halo mass profiles encode valuable cosmological and astrophysical information. Traditionally, cosmological constraints from halo structure have relied on parametric descriptions of the mass profile, such as the Navarro–Frenk–White model. In this talk, I will present a complementary non-parametric statistical approach, known as halo sparsity, and discuss its application to observations of galaxy clusters.