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Topics In Galaxy Formation: Pairwise Velocities Of Dark Matter Halos And Molecular Hydrogen Regulated Star Formation In Cosmological Simulations, Robert Jo Thompson

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

In this dissertation we investigate two distinct challenges within the concordance LCDM model and an unrelated project.

The first is a discrepancy between theory and observation. A massive galaxy sub-cluster known as the `bullet' has fallen through a more massive parent galaxy cluster at a redshift of z=0.296.

Theory finds that in order to reproduce the observational quantities of this cluster, an unusually high relative velocity of v12=3000 km/s between the two cluster's parent halos is required.

We quantify the statistical probability of producing a `bullet-like' halo pair within large N-body simulations, and

conclude that either the LCDM model is …