Saint Mary University
Silver Bullet for Dark Matter — This project aims to explore the mysteries of dark matter and galaxy formation using the Bullet Cluster as a cosmic laboratory. By leveraging gravitational lensing, this project will study how dark matter interacts and behaves, providing insights into whether cold dark matter or alternative theories, like self-interacting dark matter, better explain the universe's composition. The project combines data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and high-resolution weak lensing to accurately map the cluster's mass distribution. The second key goal focuses on newly discovered, highly magnified galaxies at high redshifts (z>5) to enhance our understanding of galaxy formation during the universe's early epochs.