The ESO-VLT MIKiS Survey Reloaded: Velocity Dispersion Profile and Rotation Curve of NGC 1904* *Based on observations collected at the European Southern Observatory, Cerro Paranal (Chile), under proposal 193.D-0232 (PI: Ferraro) and 0104.D-0636 (PI: Ferraro).

Abstract

We present an investigation of the internal kinematic properties of M79 (NGC 1904). Our study is based on radial velocity measurements obtained from the ESO-VLT Multi-Instrument Kinematic Survey (MIKiS) of Galactic globular clusters for more than 1700 individual stars distributed between ∼0.″3 and 770″ (∼14 three-dimensional half-mass radii) from the center. Our analysis reveals the presence of ordered line-of-sight rotation with a rotation axis almost aligned along the east–west direction and a velocity peak of 1.5 km s−1 at ∼70″ from the rotation axis. The velocity dispersion profile is well described by the same King model that best fits the projected density distribution, with a constant central plateau at σ 0 ∼ 6 km s−1. To investigate the cluster rotation in the plane of the sky, we have analyzed the proper motions provided by the Gaia EDR3, finding a signature of rotation with a maximum amplitude of ∼2.0 km s−1 at ∼80″ from the cluster center. Analyzing the three-dimensional velocity distribution for a subsample of 130 stars, we confirm the presence of systemic rotation and find a rotation axis inclination angle of 37° with respect to the line of sight. As a final result, the comparison of the observed rotation curves with the results of a representative N-body simulation of a rotating star cluster shows that the present-day kinematic properties of NGC 1904 are consistent with those of a dynamically old system that has lost a significant fraction of its initial angular momentum.