Cosmology seminar - Luna Zagorac

Axion-like particles have been gaining popularity recently as potential solutions to dark matter with fascinating wave-like dynamics. In this talk, I will focus on fuzzy or ultralight dark matter (FDM/ULDM): a candidate which keeps the successes of CDM on large scales but alleviates tensions on small scales. This small-scale behavior is due to characteristic observable cores in ULDM called solitons, which also correspond to the ground state of the equations governing ULDM. Thus, one promising avenue for studying ULDM dynamics is by treating individual halos as hydrogen atoms and calculating the full spectrum of their eigenstates, which are then linked to the qualitative behavior of the halo. In this talk, I will outline how and why this approach is useful, as well show its applications to observationally relevant phenomena, including: the formation of halos, the core-halo mass relation of ULDM, and the effects of supernovae feedback on spherically symmetric halos.