Shape Of Rotation Curves Research Articles

The relationship between the shape of SPARC rotation curves to the galactic mass model: a chi-square test of independence

Rotation curves of galaxies are strongly related to dark matter and baryonic matter. The gravitational attraction of baryonic matter, e.g., stars and gas, is the dominant force in the inner regions of galaxies, and its distribution determines the shape of the inner rotation curve. In contrast, the outer regions of galaxies are dominated by the gravitational force of dark matter, which is thought to be distributed in a spherical halo around a galaxy. Since the ratio of rotational speed in the inner regions and maximum rotational speed (η rot) is related to the shape of the galaxy rotation curve, it might be a significant association between this ratio and each combination of matters, or the mass models. Specifically, for dark matter, we assume the Navarro-Frenk-White (NFW) profile. This study explores the use of SPARC data (Spitzer Photometry and Accurate Rotation Curves) and categorizes shapes of galaxy rotation curves according to η rot. For mass models, we classify galaxies by considering the reduced chi-square of the best-fit parameter of each model. To determine whether there is a significant association between η rot and the mass models, we utilize the chi-square test of independence. The study suggests with a 95% confidence level that there is no relation between the mass models and η rot.

Disk Galaxies Are Self-similar: The Universality of the H i-to-Halo Mass Ratio for Isolated Disks

Observed scaling relations in galaxies between baryons and dark matter global properties are key to shed light on the process of galaxy formation and on the nature of dark matter. Here, we study the scaling relation between the neutral hydrogen (H i) and dark matter mass in isolated rotationally supported disk galaxies at low redshift. We first show that state-of-the-art galaxy formation simulations predict that the H i-to-dark-halo mass ratio decreases with stellar mass for the most massive disk galaxies. We then infer dark matter halo masses from high-quality rotation curve data for isolated disk galaxies in the local Universe and report on the actual universality of the H i-to-dark halo mass ratio for these observed galaxies. This scaling relation holds for disks spanning a range of 4 orders of magnitude in stellar mass and 3 orders of magnitude in surface brightness. Accounting for the diversity of rotation curve shapes in our observational fits decreases the scatter of the H i-to-dark halo mass ratio while keeping it constant. This finding extends the previously reported discrepancy for the stellar-to-halo mass relation of massive disk galaxies within galaxy formation simulations to the realm of neutral atomic gas. Our result reveals that isolated galaxies with regularly rotating extended H i disks are surprisingly self-similar up to high masses, which hints at mass-independent self-regulation mechanisms that have yet to be fully understood.

Cold gas disks in main-sequence galaxies at cosmic noon: Low turbulence, flat rotation curves, and disk-halo degeneracy

We study the dynamics of cold molecular gas in two main-sequence galaxies at cosmic noon (zC-488879 at z ≃ 1.47 and zC-400569 at z ≃ 2.24) using new high-resolution ALMA observations of multiple 12CO transitions. For zC-400569 we also reanalyze high-quality Hα data from the SINS/zC-SINF survey. We find that (1) both galaxies have regularly rotating CO disks and their rotation curves are flat out to ∼8 kpc contrary to previous results pointing to outer declines in the rotation speed Vrot; (2) the intrinsic velocity dispersions are low (σCO ≲ 15 km s−1 for CO and σHα ≲ 37 km s−1 for Hα) and imply Vrot/σCO ≳ 17 − 22 yielding no significant pressure support; (3) mass models using HST images display a severe disk-halo degeneracy, that is models with inner baryon dominance and models with “cuspy” dark matter halos can fit the rotation curves equally well due to the uncertainties on stellar and gas masses; and (4) Milgromian dynamics (MOND) can successfully fit the rotation curves with the same acceleration scale a0 measured at z ≃ 0. The question of the amount and distribution of dark matter in high-z galaxies remains unsettled due to the limited spatial extent of the available kinematic data; we discuss the suitability of various emission lines to trace extended rotation curves at high z. Nevertheless, the properties of these two high-z galaxies (high Vrot/σV ratios, inner rotation curve shapes, bulge-to-total mass ratios) are remarkably similar to those of massive spirals at z ≃ 0, suggesting weak dynamical evolution over more than 10 Gyr of the Universe’s lifetime.

The many reasons that the rotation curves of low-mass galaxies can fail as tracers of their matter distributions

ABSTRACT It is routinely assumed that galaxy rotation curves are equal to their circular velocity curves (modulo some corrections) such that they are good dynamical mass tracers. We take a visualization-driven approach to exploring the limits of the validity of this assumption for a sample of 33 low-mass galaxies ($60\lt v_\mathrm{max}/\mathrm{km}\, \mathrm{s}^{-1}\lt 120$ ) from the APOSTLE suite of cosmological hydrodynamical simulations. Only three of these have rotation curves nearly equal to their circular velocity curves at z = 0, the rest are undergoing a wide variety of dynamical perturbations. We use our visualizations to guide an assessment of how many galaxies are likely to be strongly perturbed by processes in several categories: mergers/interactions (affecting 6/33 galaxies), bulk radial gas inflows (19/33), vertical gas outflows (15/33), distortions driven by a non-spherical DM halo (17/33), warps (8/33), and winds due to motion through the intergalactic medium (5/33). Most galaxies fall into more than one of these categories; only 5/33 are not in any of them. The sum of these effects leads to an underestimation of the low-velocity slope of the baryonic Tully–Fisher relation (α ∼ 3.1 instead of α ∼ 3.9, where Mbar ∝ vα) that is difficult to avoid, and could plausibly be the source of a significant portion of the observed diversity in low-mass galaxy rotation curve shapes.

Off-centering of the disk in the halo potential and the kinematic lopsidedness in the dwarf irregular galaxy WLM

In this work, to investigate the dynamical nature of the kinematic asymmetry in the isolated gas-rich dwarf irregular galaxy W LM in the Local Group, we consider that the dark matter halo and the disk do not have the same center of mass (i.e., the disk lies off-center in the potential of the extended dark matter halo), which is one of the possible physical explanations for the kinematic lopsidedness. To do so, we generate a lopsided halo potential by considering two dark matter mass density models, ISO and Burkert, and we add up the contribution to the rotation curve of a perturbation term [Formula: see text] in the gravitational potential, which arises from the offset between the disk and the dark matter halo. We show that such an m = 1 perturbation improves the rotation curve modeling when compared to a non-perturbed potential and the shape of the HI gas rotation curves is fitted better in the approaching side if the perturbation term in the halo potential is taken into account for this galaxy dynamics. In fact, displacing the disk center by 0.1 kpc from the halo center is sufficient to provide such an improvement in modeling the rotation curve.

Rotation Curves of Galaxies and Their Dependence on Morphology and Stellar Mass

Abstract We study how stellar rotation curves (RCs) of galaxies are correlated on average with morphology and stellar mass (M star) using the final release of Sloan Digital Sky Survey IV MaNGA data. We use the visually assigned T-types for the morphology indicator, and adopt a functional form for the RC that can model non-flat RCs at large radii. We discover that within the radial coverage of the MaNGA data, the popularly known flat rotation curve at large radii applies only to the particular classes of galaxies, i.e., massive late types (T-type ≥ 1, M star ≳ 1010.8 M ⊙) and S0 types (T-type = −1 or 0, M star ≳ 1010.0 M ⊙). The RC of late-type galaxies at large radii rises more steeply as M star decreases, and its slope increases to about +9 km s−1 kpc−1 at M star ≈ 109.7 M ⊙. By contrast, elliptical galaxies (T-type ≤ −2) have descending RCs at large radii. Their slope becomes more negative as M star decreases, and reaches as negative as −15 km s−1 kpc−1 at M star ≈ 1010.2 M ⊙. We also find that the inner slope of the RC is highest for elliptical galaxies with M star ≈ 1010.5 M ⊙, and decreases as T-type increases or M star changes away from 1010.5 M ⊙. The velocity at the turnover radius R t is higher for higher M star, and R t is larger for higher M star and later T-types. We show that the inner slope of the RC is coupled with the central surface stellar mass density, which implies that the gravitational potential of central regions of galaxies is dominated by baryonic matter. With the aid of simple models for matter distribution, we discuss what determines the shapes of RCs.

The ALPINE-ALMA [C ii] Survey: kinematic diversity and rotation in massive star-forming galaxies at z ~ 4.4–5.9

ABSTRACT While the kinematics of galaxies up to z ∼ 3 have been characterized in detail, only a handful of galaxies at high redshift (z > 4) have been examined in such a way. The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) Large Program to INvestigate [C ii] at Early times (ALPINE) survey observed a statistically significant sample of 118 star-forming main-sequence galaxies at z = 4.4–5.9 in [C ii]158 $\mu$m emission, increasing the number of such observations by nearly 10×. A preliminary qualitative classification of these sources revealed a diversity of kinematic types (i.e. rotators, mergers, and dispersion-dominated systems). In this work, we supplement the initial classification by applying quantitative analyses to the ALPINE data: a tilted ring model (TRM) fitting code (3Dbarolo), a morphological classification (Gini-M20), and a set of disc identification criteria. Of the 75 [C ii]-detected ALPINE galaxies, 29 are detected at sufficient significance and spatial resolution to allow for TRM fitting and the derivation of morphological and kinematic parameters. These 29 sources constitute a high-mass subset of the ALPINE sample ($M_*\gt 10^{9.5}\, \mathrm{M}_{\odot }$). We robustly classify 14 of these sources (six rotators, five mergers, and three dispersion-dominated systems); the remaining sources showing complex behaviour. By exploring the G-M20 of z > 4 rest-frame far-infrared and [C ii] data for the first time, we find that our 1 arcsec ∼ 6 kpc resolution data alone are insufficient to separate galaxy types. We compare the rotation curves and dynamical mass profiles of the six ALPINE rotators to the two previously detected z ∼ 4–6 unlensed main-sequence rotators, finding high rotational velocities (∼50–250 km s−1) and a diversity of rotation curve shapes.

Flat rotation curves of z ∼ 1 star-forming galaxies

ABSTRACT We investigate the shape of the rotation curves (RCs) of z ∼ 1 star-forming galaxies (SFGs) and compare them with local SFGs. For this purpose, we have used 344 galaxies from the K-band Multi-Object Spectrograph (KMOS) for Redshift One Spectroscopic Survey (KROSS). This sample covers the redshift range 0.57 ≤ z ≤ 1.04, the effective radii 0.69 ≤ Re [kpc] ≤ 7.76, and the stellar masses 8.7 ≤ log (M* [M⊙]) ≤ 11.32. Using 3DBAROLO, we extract the H α kinematic maps and corresponding RCs. The main advantage of 3DBAROLO is that it incorporates the beam smearing in the 3D observational space, which provide us with the intrinsic rotation velocity even in the low spatial resolution data. We have corrected the RCs for pressure support, which seems to be a more dominant effect than beam smearing in high-z galaxies. Only a combination of the three techniques (3D-kinematic modelling + 3D-beam smearing correction + pressure gradient correction) yields the intrinsic RC of an individual galaxy. Further, we present the co-added and binned RCs constructed out of 256 high-quality objects. We do not see any change in the shape of RCs with respect to the local SFGs. Moreover, we notice a significant evolution in the stellar-disc length (RD) of the galaxies as a function of their circular velocity. Therefore, we conclude that the stellar disc of SFGs evolves over cosmic time (from z ∼ 1) while the total mass stays constant (within ∼20 kpc).

From spirals to lenticulars: Evidence from the rotation curves and mass models of three early-type galaxies

Rotation curves have traditionally been difficult to trace for early-type galaxies (ETGs) because they often lack a high-density disk of cold gas as in late-type galaxies (LTGs). In this work, we derive rotation curves for three lenticular galaxies from the ATLAS3D survey, combining CO data in the inner parts with deep HI data in the outer regions, extending out to 10−20 effective radii. We also use Spitzer photometry at 3.6 μm to decompose the rotation curves into the contributions of baryons and dark matter (DM). We find that (1) the rotation-curve shapes of these ETGs are similar to those of LTGs of a similar mass and surface brightness; (2) the dynamically-inferred stellar mass-to-light ratios are small for quiescent ETGs but similar to those of star-forming LTGs; (3) the DM halos follow the same scaling relations with galaxy luminosity as those of LTGs; and (4) one galaxy (NGC 3626) is poorly fit by cuspy DM profiles, suggesting that DM cores may exist in high-mass galaxies too. Our results indicate that these lenticular galaxies have recently transitioned from LTGs to ETGs without altering their DM halo structure (e.g., via a major merger), and they could be faded spirals. We also confirm that ETGs follow the same radial acceleration relation as LTGs, reinforcing the notion that this is a universal law for all galaxy types.

Baryonic clues to the puzzling diversity of dwarf galaxy rotation curves

ABSTRACT We use a compilation of disc galaxy rotation curves to assess the role of the luminous component (‘baryons’) in the rotation curve diversity problem. As in earlier work, we find that rotation curve shape correlates with baryonic surface density: high surface density galaxies have rapidly rising rotation curves consistent with cuspy cold dark matter haloes; slowly rising rotation curves (characteristic of galaxies with inner mass deficits or ‘cores’) occur only in low surface density galaxies. The correlation, however, seems too weak to be the main driver of the diversity. In addition, dwarf galaxies exhibit a clear trend, from ‘cuspy’ systems where baryons are unimportant in the inner mass budget to ‘cored’ galaxies where baryons actually dominate. This trend constrains the various scenarios proposed to explain the diversity, such as (i) baryonic inflows and outflows during galaxy formation; (ii) dark matter self-interactions; (iii) variations in the baryonic mass structure coupled to rotation velocities through the ‘mass discrepancy–acceleration relation’ (MDAR); or (iv) non-circular motions in gaseous discs. Together with analytical modelling and cosmological hydrodynamical simulations, our analysis shows that each of these scenarios has promising features, but none seems to fully account for the observed diversity. The MDAR, in particular, is inconsistent with the observed trend between rotation curve shape and baryonic importance; either the trend is caused by systematic errors in the data or the MDAR does not apply. The origin of the dwarf galaxy rotation curve diversity and its relation to the structure of cold dark matter haloes remains an open issue.

Dark matter–baryon scaling relations from Einasto halo fits to SPARC galaxy rotation curves

Dark matter–baryon scaling relations in galaxies are important in order to constrain galaxy formation models. Here, we provide a modern quantitative assessment of these relations by modelling the rotation curves of galaxies from the Spitzer Photometry and Accurate Rotation Curves (SPARC) database with the Einasto dark halo model. We focus in particular on the comparison between the original SPARC parameters, with constant mass-to-light ratios for bulges and discs, and the parameters for which galaxies follow the tightest radial acceleration relation. We show that fits are improved in the second case, and that the pure halo scaling relations also become tighter. We report that the density at the radius where the slope is −2 is strongly anti-correlated to this radius and to the Einasto index. The latter is close to unity for a large number of galaxies, indicative of large cores. In terms of dark matter–baryon scalings, we focus on relations between the core properties and the extent of the baryonic component, which are relevant to the cusp-core transformation process. We report a positive correlation between the core size of halos with small Einasto index and the stellar disc scale-length, and between the averaged dark matter density within 2 kpc and the baryon-induced rotational velocity at that radius. This finding is related to the consequence of the radial acceleration relation on the diversity of rotation curve shapes, quantified by the rotational velocity at 2 kpc. While a tight radial acceleration relation slightly decreases the observed diversity compared to the original SPARC parameters, the diversity of baryon-induced accelerations at 2 kpc is sufficient to induce a large diversity, incompatible with current hydrodynamical simulations of galaxy formation, while maintaining a tight radial acceleration relation.

The shapes of the rotation curves of star-forming galaxies over the last ≈10 Gyr

We analyse maps of the spatially-resolved nebular emission of $\approx$1500 star-forming galaxies at $z\approx0.6$-$2.2$ from deep KMOS and MUSE observations to measure the average shape of their rotation curves. We use these to test claims for declining rotation curves at large radii in galaxies at $z\approx1$-$2$ that have been interpreted as evidence for an absence of dark matter. We show that the shape of the average rotation curves, and the extent to which they decline beyond their peak velocities, depends upon the normalisation prescription used to construct the average curve. Normalising in size by the galaxy stellar disk-scale length after accounting for seeing effects ($R_{\rm{d}}^{\prime}$), we construct stacked position-velocity diagrams that trace the average galaxy rotation curve out to $6R_{\rm{d}}^{\prime}$ ($\approx$13 kpc, on average). Combining these curves with average HI rotation curves for local systems, we investigate how the shapes of galaxy rotation curves evolve over $\approx$10 Gyr. The average rotation curve for galaxies binned in stellar mass, stellar surface mass density and/or redshift is approximately flat, or continues to rise, out to at least $6R_{\rm{d}}^{\prime}$. We find a trend between the outer slopes of galaxies' rotation curves and their stellar mass surface densities, with the higher surface density systems exhibiting flatter rotation curves. Drawing comparisons with hydrodynamical simulations, we show that the average shapes of the rotation curves for our sample of massive, star-forming galaxies at $z\approx0$-$2.2$ are consistent with those expected from $\Lambda$CDM theory and imply dark matter fractions within $6R_{\rm{d}}$ of at least $\approx60$ percent.

The local rotation curve of the Milky Way based on SEGUE and RAVE data

Aims. We construct the rotation curve of the Milky Way in the extended solar neighbourhood using a sample of Sloan Extension for Galactic Understanding and Exploration (SEGUE) G-dwarfs. We investigate the rotation curve shape for the presence of any peculiarities just outside the solar radius as has been reported by some authors. Methods. Using the modified Strömberg relation and the most recent data from the RAdial Velocity Experiment (RAVE), we determine the solar peculiar velocity and the radial scale lengths for the three populations of different metallicities representing the Galactic thin disc. Subsequently, with the same binning in metallicity for the SEGUE G-dwarfs, we construct the rotation curve for a range of Galactocentric distances from 7 to 10 kpc. We approach this problem in a framework of classical Jeans analysis and derive the circular velocity by correcting the mean tangential velocity for the asymmetric drift in each distance bin. With SEGUE data we also calculate the radial scale length of the thick disc taking as known the derived peculiar motion of the Sun and the slope of the rotation curve. Results. The tangential component of the solar peculiar velocity is found to be V ⊙ = 4.47 ± 0.8 km s−1 and the corresponding scale lengths from the RAVE data are Rd(0 < [Fe/H] < 0.2) = 2.07 ± 0.2 kpc, Rd(−0.2 < [Fe/H] < 0) = 2.28 ± 0.26 kpc and Rd(−0.5 < [Fe/H] <−0.2) = 3.05 ± 0.43 kpc. In terms of the asymmetric drift, the thin disc SEGUE stars are demonstrated to have dynamics similar to the thin disc RAVE stars, therefore the scale lengths calculated from the SEGUE sample have close values: Rd(0 < [Fe/H] < 0.2) = 1.91 ± 0.23 kpc, Rd(−0.2 < [Fe/H] < 0) = 2.51 ± 0.25 kpc and Rd(−0.5 < [Fe/H] <−0.2) = 3.55 ± 0.42 kpc. The rotation curve constructed through SEGUE G-dwarfs appears to be smooth in the selected radial range 7 kpc < R < 10 kpc. The inferred power law index of the rotation curve is 0.033 ± 0.034, which corresponds to a local slope of dV c∕dR = 0.98 ± 1 km s−1 kpc−1. The radial scale length of the thick disc is 2.05 kpc with no essential dependence on metallicity. Conclusions. The local kinematics of the thin disc rotation as determined in the framework of our new careful analysis does not favour the presence of a massive overdensity ring just outside the solar radius. We also find values for solar peculiar motion, radial scale lengths of thick disc, and three thin disc populations of different metallicities as a side result of this work.

Rotation curves of LSBGs and dwarf galaxies in a nearly Newtonian solution

The observed motion of stars close to galaxy nuclei shows that the resulting velocities are small of the order of a few hundred of km s−1. In these regions of strong gravity, the Newtonian gravitational field or even a post-Newtonian approximation may not be adequate to describe the motion of stars. In this paper, we study the possibility that the rotation curves problem may be explained mostly in the realm of Einstein's general relativity in a nearly weak field regime. By using the geodesic equations to obtain a gravitational potential generated from a point-like source, we end up in the concept of a nearly Newtonian gravity, and we show that its resulting potential responds to the dark halo mostly attributed to dark matter. We show that it comes essentially from the propagation of the non-linear effects of the obtained effective velocity field. As a test, we study a sample of 27 low surface brightness galaxies (LSBGs) and nine dwarf galaxies obtaining rotation curve shapes in nearly agreement with observations.

NIHAO – XIV. Reproducing the observed diversity of dwarf galaxy rotation curve shapes in ΛCDM

The significant diversity of rotation curve (RC) shapes in dwarf galaxies has recently emerged as a challenge to LCDM: in dark matter (DM) only simulations, DM halos have a universal cuspy density profile that results in self-similar RC shapes. We compare RC shapes of simulated galaxies from the NIHAO project with observed galaxies from the homogeneous SPARC dataset. The DM halos of the NIHAO galaxies can expand to form cores, with the degree of expansion depending on their stellar-to-halo mass ratio. By means of the $V_{\rm 2kpc}-V_{\rm Rlast}$ relation (where $V_{\rm Rlast}$ is the outermost measured rotation velocity), we show that both the average trend and the scatter in RC shapes of NIHAO galaxies are in reasonable agreement with SPARC: this represents a significant improvement compared to simulations that do not result in DM core formation, suggesting that halo expansion is a key process in matching the diversity of dwarf galaxy RCs. Note that NIHAO galaxies can reproduce even the extremely slowly rising RCs of IC 2574 and UGC 5750. Revealingly, the range where observed galaxies show the highest diversity corresponds to the range where core formation is most efficient in NIHAO simulations, 50$<V_{\rm Rlast}$\km s$^{-1}<$100. A few observed galaxies in this range cannot be matched by any NIHAO RC nor by simulations that predict a universal halo profile. Interestingly, the majority of these are starbursts or emission-line galaxies, with steep RCs and small effective radii. Such galaxies represent an interesting observational target providing new clues to the process/viability of cusp-core transformation, the relationship between starburst and inner potential well, and the nature of DM.

Spreading out and staying sharp – creating diverse rotation curves via baryonic and self-interaction effects

Galactic rotation curves are a fundamental constraint for any cosmological model. We use controlled N-body simulations of galaxies to study the gravitational effect of baryons in a scenario with collisionless cold dark matter (CDM) versus one with a self-interacting dark matter (SIDM) component. In particular, we examine the inner profiles of the rotation curves in the velocity range Vmax = 30-250 km/s, whose diversity has been found to be greater than predicted by the Lambda-CDM scenario. We find that the scatter in the observed rotation curves exceeds that predicted by dark matter only mass-concentration relations in either the CDM nor SIDM models. Allowing for realistic baryonic content and spatial distributions, however, helps create a large variety of rotation curve shapes; which is in better agreement with observations in the case of self-interactions due to the characteristic cored profiles being more accommodating to the slowly rising rotation curves than CDM. We find individual fits to model two of the most remarkable outliers of similar Vmax, UGC 5721 and IC 2574, the former a cusp-like rotation curve and the latter a seemingly 8 kpc cored profile. This diversity in SIDM arises as permutations of overly concentrated halos with compact baryonic distributions versus underdense halos with extended baryonic disks. The SIDM solution is promising and its feasibility ultimately depends on the sampling of the halo mass-concentration relation and its interplay with the baryonic profiles, emphasising the need for a better understanding of the frequency of extreme outliers present in current observational samples.

Understanding the shape and diversity of dwarf galaxy rotation curves in ΛCDM

The shape and diversity of dwarf galaxy rotation curves is at apparent odds with dark matter halos in a $\Lambda$ Cold Dark Matter ($\Lambda$CDM) cosmology. We use mock data from isolated dwarf galaxy simulations to show that this owes to three main effects. Firstly, stellar feedback heats dark matter, leading to a 'coreNFW' dark matter density profile with a slowly rising rotation curve. Secondly, if close to a recent starburst, large HI bubbles push the rotation curve out of equilibrium, deforming the rotation curve shape. Thirdly, when galaxies are viewed near face-on, their best fit inclination is biased high. This can lead to a very shallow rotation curve that falsely implies a large dark matter core. All three problems can be avoided, however, by a combination of improved mass models and a careful selection of target galaxies. Fitting our coreNFW model to mock rotation curve data, we show that we can recover the rotation curve shape, dark matter halo mass $M_{200}$ and concentration parameter $c$ within our quoted uncertainties. We fit our coreNFW model to real data for four isolated dwarf irregulars, chosen to span a wide range of rotation curve shapes. We obtain an excellent fit for NGC 6822 and WLM, with tight constraints on $M_{200}$, and $c$ consistent with $\Lambda$CDM. However, IC 1613 and DDO 101 give a poor fit. For IC 1613, we show that this owes to disequilibria and its uncertain inclination $i$; for DDO 101, it owes to its uncertain distance $D$. If we assume $i_{\rm IC1613} \sim 15^\circ$ and $D_{\rm DDO101} \sim 12$ Mpc, consistent with current uncertainties, we are able to fit both galaxies very well. We conclude that $\Lambda$CDM appears to give an excellent match to dwarf galaxy rotation curves.

Dissipative dark matter and the rotation curves of dwarf galaxies

There is ample evidence from rotation curves that dark matter halos around disk galaxies have nontrivial dynamics. Of particular significance are: a) the cored dark matter profile of disk galaxies, b) correlations of the shape of rotation curves with baryonic properties, and c) Tully-Fisher relations. Dark matter halos around disk galaxies may have nontrivial dynamics if dark matter is strongly self interacting and dissipative. Multicomponent hidden sector dark matter featuring a massless `dark photon' (from an unbroken dark U(1) gauge interaction) which kinetically mixes with the ordinary photon provides a concrete example of such dark matter. The kinetic mixing interaction facilitates halo heating by enabling ordinary supernovae to be a source of these `dark photons'. Dark matter halos can expand and contract in response to the heating and cooling processes, but for a sufficiently isolated halo could have evolved to a steady state or `equilibrium' configuration where heating and cooling rates locally balance. This dynamics allows the dark matter density profile to be related to the distribution of ordinary supernovae in the disk of a given galaxy. In a previous paper a simple and predictive formula was derived encoding this relation. Here we improve on previous work by modelling the supernovae distribution via the measured UV and Hα fluxes, and compare the resulting dark matter halo profiles with the rotation curve data for each dwarf galaxy in the LITTLE THINGS sample. The dissipative dark matter concept is further developed and some conclusions drawn.

THE IMPACT OF MOLECULAR GAS ON MASS MODELS OF NEARBY GALAXIES

ABSTRACT We present CO velocity fields and rotation curves for a sample of nearby galaxies, based on data from HERACLES. We combine our data with THINGS, SINGS, and KINGFISH results to provide a comprehensive sample of mass models of disk galaxies inclusive of molecular gas. We compare the kinematics of the molecular (CO from HERACLES) and atomic (H i from THINGS) gas distributions to determine the extent to which CO may be used to probe the dynamics in the inner part of galaxies. In general, we find good agreement between the CO and H i kinematics, with small differences in the inner part of some galaxies. We add the contribution of the molecular gas to the mass models in our galaxies by using two different conversion factors α CO to convert CO luminosity to molecular gas mass surface density—the constant Milky Way value and the radially varying profiles determined in recent work based on THINGS, HERACLES, and KINGFISH data. We study the relative effect that the addition of the molecular gas has on the halo rotation curves for Navarro–Frenk–White and the observationally motivated pseudo-isothermal halos. The contribution of the molecular gas varies for galaxies in our sample—for those galaxies where there is a substantial molecular gas content, using different values of α CO can result in significant differences to the relative contribution of the molecular gas and hence the shape of the dark matter halo rotation curves in the central regions of galaxies.

Hα kinematics of nearby galaxies using Fabry-Perot and IFU data

AbstractI present here analysis of the shapes of the rotation curves of a large sample of nearby spiral galaxies with high angular and spectral resolution Hα (Fabry-Perot GHαFaS) kinematics, and the resulting constraints on their total mass distributions. In particular I discuss how their rotation curve shapes relate to key galaxy properties. Finally I present related results from the MUSE Atlas of Disks (MAD) program, which is dissecting the nearby disk population with IFU spectroscopy at ~100pc resolution.