SPARC: MASS MODELS FOR 175 DISK GALAXIES WITH SPITZER PHOTOMETRY AND ACCURATE ROTATION CURVES

By F. Lelli, S. McGaugh, J. Schombert. 2016

574 citations recorded by the source corpus.

We introduce SPARC (Spitzer Photometry and Accurate Rotation Curves): a sample of 175 nearby galaxies with new surface photometry at 3.6 μm and high-quality rotation curves from previous H i/Hα studies. SPARC spans a broad range of morphologies (S0 to Irr), luminosities (∼5 dex), and surface brightnesses (∼4 dex). We derive [3.6] surface photometry and study structural relations of stellar and gas disks. We find that both the stellar mass–H i mass relation and the stellar radius–H i radius relation have significant intrinsic scatter, while the H i mass–radius relation is extremely tight. We build detailed mass models and quantify the ratio of baryonic to observed velocity (Vbar/Vobs) for different characteristic radii and values of the stellar mass-to-light ratio (ϒ⋆) at [3.6]. Assuming ϒ⋆ ≃ 0.5 M⊙/L⊙ (as suggested by stellar population models), we find that (i) the gas fraction linearly correlates with total luminosity; (ii) the transition from star-dominated to gas-dominated galaxies roughly corresponds to the transition from spiral galaxies to dwarf irregulars, in line with density wave theory; and (iii) Vbar/Vobs varies with luminosity and surface brightness: high-mass, high-surface-brightness galaxies are nearly maximal, while low-mass, low-surface-brightness galaxies are submaximal. These basic properties are lost for low values of ϒ⋆ ≃ 0.2 M⊙/L⊙ as suggested by the DiskMass survey. The mean maximum-disk limit in bright galaxies is ϒ⋆ ≃ 0.7 M⊙/L⊙ at [3.6]. The SPARC data are publicly available and represent an ideal test bed for models of galaxy formation.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Instrumentation

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/2f2223609514d86d038820053585e675b49ed1ee

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In Astronomy and Astrophysics

1. A. Dutton
2. A. Macciò
3. A. Dekel
4. S. McGaugh
5. F. Lelli
6. J. Schombert
7. C. Brook
8. P. Hopkins

In Instrumentation

1. A. Dutton
2. A. Dekel
3. S. McGaugh
4. A. Macciò
5. F. Lelli
6. J. Schombert
7. C. Brook
8. Pengfei Li

Citations in the corpus

• Fitting the radial acceleration relation to individual SPARC galaxies (2018, methodology): “Similar figures are available for all SPARC galaxies.”
• One Law to Rule Them All: The Radial Acceleration Relation of Galaxies (2016, methodology): “(16) The former equation is straightforward since Vf is defined as the mean value along the flat part of the rotation curve (e.g., Lelli et al. 2016b).”
• NIHAO - XI. Formation of ultra-diffuse galaxies by outflows (2016, background): “Finally, in the SPARC sample of local HI-rich galaxies (Lelli et al. 2016), 70% of the galaxies with 107”