Analytical Approaches to Dark Matter Halos of Galaxies

Liliya Williams

The mass density distribution of dark matter halos of galaxies has been a subject of much debate in the recent years. High resolution N-body simulations have all but converged on a common empirical form for the shape of the density profiles of halos, but the full understanding of the underlying physics of halo formation has eluded them so far. I will describe an alternative way of investigating the formation and evolution of dark matter halos of galaxies, using analytical and semi-analytical techniques. I will highlight one property of dark matter halos: their phase-space density distribution, and discuss a possible scenario to explain how it could arise.