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Jesus Zavala Franco

Jesus Zavala Franco's picture
Associate Postdoctoral Researcher
University of Waterloo
Phd: National Autonomous University of Mexico 2007

Area of Research:
Cosmology
Phone: x8075

Research Interests

My research interests are related to dark matter physics with a broad perspective: the intrinsic nature of dark matter as a particle, and its macroscopic impact on the formation, evolution and properties of galaxies. Lately, I have been mostly interested in two subjects:

Going beyond the CDM model: the current paradigm of structure formation, the Cold Dark Matter (CDM) model, assumes that dark matter is collisionless and cold (with very low thermal motions). Observations of the abundance and properties of dwarf galaxies might be challenging these hypothesis. I have been interested in testing alternative models where dark matter is assumed to be warm (Warm Dark Matter, WDM) or self-colisional (Self-Interacting Dark Matter, SIDM). These extensions to the CDM model share its successes in reproducing the large-scale structure of the Universe, and have the potential of solving the small-scale problems.

Dark matter annihilation: although there is substantial evidence for the existence of dark matter from its gravitational effects in the visible ordinary matter, a definitive proof requires a non-gravitational signature. I have been interested in the prospect of such detection by looking for the byproducts of the hypothetical annihilation of dark matter.

Recent Publications

  • The growth of galactic bulges through mergers in LCDM haloes revisited - I. Present-day properties, Zavala, J., Avila-Reese, V., Firmani, C. and Boylan-Kolchin, M., 2012, MNRAS, 427, 1503, arxiv: 1204.0516
  • Constraining Self-Interacting Dark Matter with the Milky Way's dwarf spheroidals, Zavala, J, Vogelsberger, M & Walker, M., 2012, arxiv: 1211.6426
  • Direct detection of self-interacting dark matter, Vogelsberger, M & Zavala, J., 2012, arxiv: 1211.1377
  • Removal and mixing of the coronal gas from satellites in galaxy groups: cooling the intragroup gas, Zavala, J, Balogh, M. L. and Afshordi, N., 2012, MNRAS, 426, 3464, arxiv: 1208.4849
  • Subhaloes in self-interacting galactic dark matter haloes, Vogelsberger, M., Zavala, J and Loeb, 2012, MNRAS, 423, 3740, arxiv: 1201.5892
  • Characterization of Dark-Matter-induced anisotropies in the diffuse gamma-ray background, Fornasa, M., Zavala, J, Sanchez-Conde, M.A., Siegal-Gaskins, J. M., Delahaye, T., Prada, F., Vogelsberger, M., Zandanel, F. and Frenk, C. S., 2012, arxiv: 1207.0502
  • The abundance of (not just) dark matter haloes, Sawala, T., Frenk, C. S., Crain, R. A., Jenkins, A., Schaye, J., Theuns, T. and Zavala, J, 2012, arxiv: 1206.6495
  • Cosmic X-ray and gamma-ray background from dark matter annihilation, Zavala, J, Vogelsberger, M., Slatyer, T. R., Loeb, A. and Springel, V., 2011, PRD, 83, 123513, arxiv: 1103.0776
  • Extragalactic gamma-ray background radiation from dark matter annihilation, Zavala, J, Springel, V., Boylan-Kolchin, M., 2010, MNRAS, 405, 593, arxiv: 0908.2428
  • Relic density and CMB constraints on dark matter annihilation with Sommerfeld enhancement, Zavala, J, Vogelsberger, M. and White, S.D.M., 2010, PRD, 81, 083502, arxiv: 0910.5221
  • The Velocity Function in the Local Environment from LCDM and LWDM Constrained Simulations, Zavala, J, Jing, Y. P., Faltenbacher, A., Yepes, G., Hoffman, Y., Gottlöber, S. and Catinella, B., 2009, ApJ, 700, 1779, arxiv: 0906.0585
  • On the Baryonic, Stellar, and Luminous Scaling Relations of Disk Galaxies, Avila-Reese, V., Zavala, J, Firmani, C. and Hernández-Toledo, H. M., 2008, AJ, 136, 1340, arxiv: 0807.0636
  • Bulges versus discs: the evolution of angular momentum in cosmological simulations of galaxy formation, Zavala, J, Okamoto, T. and Frenk, C. S., 2008, MNRAS, 387, 364, arxiv: 0710.2901
  • Three-dimensional hydrodynamical simulations of the large-scale structure of W50-SS433, Zavala, J, Velázquez, P. F., Cerqueira, A. H. and Dubner, G. M., 2008, MNRAS, 387, 839
  • Constraining the mSUGRA (minimal supergravity) parameter space using the entropy of dark matter halos, Núñez, D., Zavala, J., Nellen, L., Sussman, R. A., Cabral-Rosetti, L. G. and Mondragón, M., 2008, JCAP, 05,003, arxiv: 0804.3235
  • Stellar polytropes and Navarro Frenk White halo models: comparison with observations, Zavala, J., Núñez, D., Sussman, R. A., Cabral-Rosetti, L. G. and Matos, T., 2006, JCAP, 06, 008, arxiv: astro-ph/0605665
  • Pioneer Anomaly? Gravitational Pull due to the Kuiper Belt, de Diego, J. A., Núñez, D. and Zavala, J., 2006, IJMPD, 15, 533, arxiv: astro-ph/0503368
  • The luminous and dark matter content of disk galaxies, Zavala, J., Avila-Reese, V., Hernández-Toledo, H. and Firmani, C., 2003, A&A, 412, 633, arxiv: astro-ph/0305516