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Asymmetric mass models of disk galaxies - I. Messier 99

Chemin, L; Hure, J-M; Soubiran, C; Zibetti, S; Charlot, S; Kawata, D; (2016) Asymmetric mass models of disk galaxies - I. Messier 99. Astronomy & Astrophysics , 588 , Article A48. 10.1051/0004-6361/201527730. Green open access

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Abstract

Mass models of galactic disks traditionally rely on axisymmetric density and rotation curves, paradoxically acting as if their most remarkable asymmetric features, such as lopsidedness or spiral arms, were not important. In this article, we relax the axisymmetry approximation and introduce a methodology that derives 3D gravitational potentials of disk-like objects and robustly estimates the impacts of asymmetries on circular velocities in the disk midplane. Mass distribution models can then be directly fitted to asymmetric line-of-sight velocity fields. Applied to the grand-design spiral M99, the new strategy shows that circular velocities are highly nonuniform, particularly in the inner disk of the galaxy, as a natural response to the perturbed gravitational potential of luminous matter. A cuspy inner density profile of dark matter is found in M99, in the usual case where luminous and dark matter share the same center. The impact of the velocity nonuniformity is to make the inner profile less steep, although the density remains cuspy. On another hand, a model where the halo is core dominated and shifted by 2.2-2.5 kpc from the luminous mass center is more appropriate to explain most of the kinematical lopsidedness evidenced in the velocity field of M99. However, the gravitational potential of luminous baryons is not asymmetric enough to explain the kinematical lopsidedness of the innermost regions, irrespective of the density shape of dark matter. This discrepancy points out the necessity of an additional dynamical process in these regions: possibly a lopsided distribution of dark matter.

Type: Article
Title: Asymmetric mass models of disk galaxies - I. Messier 99
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/201527730
Publisher version: http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201527730
Language: English
Additional information: This version is the version of record. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions.
Keywords: astro-ph.GA, astro-ph.GA
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences > Dept of Space and Climate Physics
URI: https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1479627
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