articleThe Astrophysical JournalNov 2, 2011BRONZE OA

A METHOD FOR MEASURING (SLOPES OF) THE MASS PROFILES OF DWARF SPHEROIDAL GALAXIES

MGMatthew G. WalkerJPJorge Peñarrubia

Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithsonian · University of Cambridge

Indexed inarxivcrossrefdoaj

Abstract

We introduce a method for measuring the slopes of mass profiles within dwarf spheroidal (dSph) galaxies directly from stellar spectroscopic data and without adopting a dark matter halo model. Our method combines two recent results: 1) spherically symmetric, equilibrium Jeans models imply that the product of halflight radius and (squared) stellar velocity dispersion provides an estimate of the mass enclosed within the halflight radius of a dSph stellar component, and 2) some dSphs have chemo-dynamically distinct stellar \textit{sub}components that independently trace the same gravitational potential. We devise a statistical method that uses measurements of stellar positions, velocities and spectral indices to…

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Authors

2
  • MG
    Matthew G. WalkerCorresponding

    Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithsonian, University of Cambridge

  • JP
    Jorge Peñarrubia

    University of Cambridge

Topics & keywords

Topics
Keywords
  • Galaxy
  • RADIUS
  • Halo
  • Velocity dispersion
  • Stellar mass
  • Dark matter
  • Dwarf spheroidal galaxy
  • Dwarf galaxy
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