Research summary
Scientists believe that about 95 per cent of the galaxy is composed of dark matter. Dark matter particles do not absorb, reflect or emit light, so cannot be seen directly—but recent high-precision data from the Gaia space observatory and rapid advances in cosmological simulations are now enabling scientists to study dark matter distribution in the Milky Way.
As Canada Research Chair in Astroparticle Physics, Dr. Nassim Bozorgnia aims to identify the particle nature of dark matter by studying its distinct signatures in galactic distribution. To do this, she and her research team are using three complementary approaches: they are extracting the distribution of dark matter from cosmological simulations, searching for dark matter substructures with stellar streams, and probing dark matter distribution and interaction type using directional dark matter detection.