María Benito

• PhD in Theoretical Physics
• PostDoc Position at Tartu Observatory University of Tartu

Ultrafaint dwarf galaxies (UFDs) are ideal for studying dark matter (DM) due to minimal baryonic effects. UFD observations suggest cored DM profiles. We find that the core radius -- stellar mass scaling predicted by fuzzy dark matter (FDM) is at $6.1\sigma$ tension with UFD observations. Combining observations from 27 UFDs, the required FDM mass $m...

Context . Due to poor observational constraints on the low-mass end of the subhalo mass function, the detection of dark matter (DM) subhalos on sub-galactic scales would provide valuable information about the nature of DM. Stellar wakes, induced by passing DM subhalos, encode information about the mass (properties) of the inducing perturber and thu...

Due to poor observational constraints on the low-mass end of the subhalo mass function, the detection of dark matter (DM) subhalos on sub-galactic scales would provide valuable information about the nature of DM. Stellar wakes, induced by passing DM subhalos, encode information about the mass of the inducing perturber and thus serve as an indirect...

Dark Matter (DM) can become captured, deposit annihilation energy, and hence increase the heat flow in exoplanets and brown dwarfs. Detecting such a DM-induced heating in a population of exoplanets in the inner kpc of the Milky Way thus provides potential sensitivity to the galactic DM halo parameters. We develop a Bayesian Hierarchical Model to in...

Dark Matter (DM) can become captured, deposit annihilation energy, and hence increase the heat flow in exoplanets and brown dwarfs. Detecting such a DM-induced heating in a population of exoplanets in the inner kpc of the Milky Way thus provides potential sensitivity to the galactic DM halo parameters. We develop a Bayesian Hierarchical Model to in...

Context. Dynamical friction can be a valuable tool for inferring dark matter properties that are difficult to constrain by other methods. Most applications of dynamical friction calculations are concerned with the long-term angular momentum loss and orbital decay of the perturber within its host. This, however, assumes knowledge of the unknown init...

Our goal is to calculate the circular velocity curve of the Milky Way, along with corresponding uncertainties that quantify various sources of systematic uncertainty in a self-consistent manner. The observed rotational velocities are described as circular velocities minus the asymmetric drift. The latter is described by the radial axisymmetric Jean...

Aims. Our goal is to calculate the circular velocity curve of the Milky Way, along with corresponding uncertainties that quantify various sources of systematic uncertainty in a self-consistent manner. Methods. The observed rotational velocities are described as circular velocities minus the asymmetric drift. The latter is described by the radial ax...

The abundance of dark matter subhalos orbiting a host galaxy is a generic prediction of the cosmological framework, and is a promising way to constrain the nature of dark matter. In this paper, we investigate the use of machine learning-based tools to quantify the magnitude of phase-space perturbations caused by the passage of dark matter subhalos....

The abundance of dark matter subhalos orbiting a host galaxy is a generic prediction of the cosmological framework. It is a promising way to constrain the nature of dark matter. Here we describe the challenges of detecting stars whose phase-space distribution may be perturbed by the passage of dark matter subhalos using a machine learning approach....

We present here a quantitative estimate of the impact of uncertainties of astrophysical nature on the determination of the dark matter distribution within our Galaxy, the Milky Way. Based on an update of a previous analysis, this work is motivated by recent new determinations of astrophysical quantities of relevance – such as the Galactic parameter...

We present an analytical model for the evolution of brown dwarfs in quadratic Palatini f(R) gravity. We improve previous studies by adopting a more realistic description of the partially degenerate state that characterizes brown dwarfs. Furthermore, we take into account the hydrogen metallic-molecular phase transition between the interior of the br...

We provide an updated assessment of the power of the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) to search for thermally produced dark matter at the TeV scale, via the associated gamma-ray signal from pair-annihilating dark matter particles in the region around the Galactic centre. We find that CTA will open a new window of discovery potential, significantly e...

We present an analytical model for the evolution of brown dwarfs in quadratic Palatini f(R) gravity. We improve previous studies by adopting a more realistic description of the partially-degenerate state that characterizes brown dwarfs. Furthermore, we take into account the hydrogen metallic-molecular phase transition between the interior of the br...

A galaxy moving through a background of dark matter particles induces an overdensity of these particles or a wake behind it. The back reaction of this wake on the galaxy is a force field that can be decomposed into an effective deceleration (called dynamical friction) and a tidal field. In this paper, we determine the tidal forces, thus generated o...

We present here a quantitative, accurate estimate of the impact of uncertainties of astrophysical nature on the determination of the dark matter distribution within our Galaxy, the Milky Way. Based on an update of a previous analysis, this work is motivated by recent new determinations of astrophysical quantities of relevance -- such as the Galacti...

A galaxy moving through a background of dark matter particles, induces an overdensity of these particles or a wake behind it. The back reaction of this wake on the galaxy is a force field that can be decomposed into an effective deceleration (called dynamical friction) and a tidal field. In this paper we determine the tidal forces, thus generated o...

We present a new estimate of the mass of the Milky Way, inferred via a Bayesian approach by making use of tracers of the circular velocity in the disk plane and stars in the stellar halo, as from the publicly available galkin compilation. We use the rotation curve method to determine the dark matter distribution and total mass under different assum...

We study how the indirect observation of dark matter substructures in the Milky Way, using recent stellar stream studies, translates into constraints for different dark matter models. Particularly, we use the measured number of dark subhalos in the mass range 107−109 M⊙ to constrain modifications of the subhalo mass function compared to the cold da...

We study how the indirect observation of dark matter substructures in the Milky Way, using recent stellar stream studies, translate into constraints for different dark matter models. We obtain the lower bounds $m_{\rm WDM} > 3.2\,{\rm keV}$ and $m_{\rm FDM} > 5.2\times 10^{-21}\,{\rm eV}$ on the warm dark matter and fuzzy dark matter particle mass,...

We present a new estimate of the mass of the Milky Way, inferred via a Bayesian approach from tracers of the circular velocity in the disk plane and stars in the stellar halo. We use the rotation curve method to determine the dark matter density profile, together with the total stellar mass, which is constrained by surface stellar density and micro...

We develop a novel Bayesian methodology aimed at reliably and precisely inferring the distribution of dark matter within the Milky Way using rotation curve data. We identify a subset of the available rotation curve tracers that are mutually consistent with each other, thus eliminating data sets that might suffer from systematic bias. We investigate...

In this work we characterize the distribution of Dark Matter (DM) in the Milky Way (MW), and its uncertainties, adopting the well known "Rotation Curve" method. We perform a full marginalization over the uncertainties of the Galactic Parameters and over the lack of knowledge on the morphology of the baryonic components of the Galaxy. The local DM d...

We develop a novel Bayesian methodology aimed at reliably and precisely inferring the distribution of dark matter within the Milky Way using rotation curve data. We identify a subset of the available rotation curve tracers that are mutually consistent with each other, thus eliminating data sets that might suffer from systematic bias. We investigate...

In this work we characterize the distribution of Dark Matter (DM) in the Milky Way (MW), and its uncertainties, adopting the well known "Rotation Curve" method. We perform a full marginalization over the uncertainties of the Galactic Parameters and over the lack of knowledge on the morphology of the baryonic components of the Galaxy. The local DM d...

The Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) is a spiral galaxy, satellite of the Milky way with a high star formation activity. It represents a unique laboratory for studying an extended and spatially resolved star-forming galaxy through gamma-ray observatories. Therefore, the LMC survey is one of the key science projects for the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CT...

We perform a test of John Moffat’s modified gravity theory (MOG) within the Milky Way, adopting the well-known “rotation curve” method. We use the dynamics of observed tracers within the disk to determine the gravitational potential as a function of galactocentric distance and compare that with the potential that is expected to be generated by the...

We perform a test of John Moffat's Modified Gravity theory (MOG) within the Milky Way, adopting the well known "Rotation Curve" method. We use the dynamics of observed tracers within the disk to determine the gravitational potential as a function of galactocentric distance, and compare that with the potential that is expected to be generated by the...

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Collider, space, and Earth based experiments are now able to probe several extensions of the Standard Model of particle physics which provide viable dark matter candidates. Direct and indirect dark matter searches rely on inputs of astrophysical nature, such as the local dark matter density or the shape of the dark matter profile in the target in o...

Collider, space, and Earth based experiments are now able to probe several extensions of the Standard Model of particle physics which provide viable dark matter candidates. Direct and indirect dark matter searches rely on inputs of astrophysical nature, such as the local dark matter density or the shape of the dark matter profile in the target in o...

We present an analysis of the mass distribution in the region of the Galactic bulge, which leads to constraints on the total amount and distribution of Dark Matter (DM) therein. Our results -based on the dynamical measurement of the BRAVA collaboration- are quantitatively compatible with those of a recent analysis, and generalised to a vaste sample...