Speaker
Description
I will present prompt cusps, a recently identified class of compact dark matter structures with ρ∝r^-1.5 density profiles that form at the onset of structure formation and persist at halo centers. These systems enable new constraints on warm dark matter from dwarf galaxy kinematics, strengthen limits on annihilating dark matter, and offer detection prospects for general cold dark matter models. Next, I will discuss how enhanced primordial perturbations can form halos during the radiation era that are compact enough to be detected with microlensing. Finally, I will present results on primordial black hole (PBH) dark matter from a new cosmological simulation that fully resolves individual PBH dynamics. Interactions randomize binary orbits, dramatically altering
gravitational-wave predictions, while a hot dark matter component emerges that suppresses structure growth up to galactic scales.
