Our research group studies two big questions:

what is dark matter?

and

how do galaxies form?

We work to answer these questions using the tools of galactic dynamics: the study of the orbits of stars and gas in galaxies under the laws of gravity. Since all matter in the Universe has mass, whether dark or luminous, we can “detect” dark matter through the force of gravity that it exerts on things we can see, by analyzing their orbits. We use state-of-the-art supercomputer simulations of galaxies and synthetic observations to understand how they inform us about dark matter.

Want to know more? Here is a recent overview talk. Seen enough and want to join us? Apply to Penn!