The standard model of cosmology faces hurdles at the smallest scales
In short: The standard cosmological model, known as ΛCDM, successfully explains the large-scale structure of the universe but struggles with smaller structures. Researchers have identified significant discrepancies between theoretical predictions and actual observations regarding the density of galaxy cores and the total number of small satellite galaxies in our local neighborhood.
These issues, known as the cusp/core and missing satellites problems, suggest our understanding of dark matter or baryonic physics may be incomplete. The review highlights the need for future surveys to find faint dwarf galaxies to test whether these anomalies require a revision of dark matter theory.
Why it matters: Small-scale mysteries in our galaxy's neighborhood may eventually force scientists to rethink the fundamental nature of dark matter.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: Research: Bullock and Kolchin (2017). Small-Scale Challenges to the Λ CDM Paradigm. Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics.
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