Understanding the Nature of Dark Matter Halos and Galaxy Formation Through the Lens of the Milky Way

Abstract: The Milky Way is the ultimate laboratory for deciphering the many facets of galaxy formation and evolution, which makes the task of placing the Milky Way amongst it peers and correctly comparing it to simulations of crucial importance. However, such a task is complicated due to our limited perspective within the Milky Way. In this talk I take both theoretical and observational approaches to bridge the gap between the galactic and extragalactic. I address inconstancies between dark matter halo simulations and observational inferences and utilize halo properties to place the Milky Way’s halo amongst its peers. Then I will focus on experimental approaches and state-of-the-art machine learning techniques to construct the first full long-baseline UV to mid-IR spectral energy distribution (SED) of the Milky Way and compare to the general galaxy population, revealing evidence that the Milky Way appears to be a red spiral galaxy.