Observing the Dark Matter Density Profile of Isolated Galaxies

By Francisco Prada, M. Vitvitska, Anatoly Klypin, J. Holtzman, David Schlegel, E. Grebel, Hans-Walter Rix, J. Brinkmann, T. McKay, István Csabai. 2003

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Using the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), we probe the halo mass distribution by studying the velocities of satellites orbiting isolated galaxies. In a subsample that covers 2500 deg2 on the sky, we detect about 3000 satellites with absolute blue magnitudes going down to MB = -14; most of the satellites have MB = -16 to -18, comparable to the magnitudes of M32 and the Magellanic Clouds. After a careful, model-independent removal of interlopers, we find that the line-of-sight velocity dispersion of satellites declines with distance to the primary. For an L* galaxy the rms line-of-sight velocity changes from ≈120 km s-1 at 20 kpc to ≈60 km s-1 at 350 kpc. This decline agrees remarkably well with theoretical expectations, as all modern cosmological models predict that the density of dark matter in the peripheral parts of galaxies declines as ρDM ∝ r-3. Thus, for the first time we find direct observational evidence of the density decline predicted by cosmological models; we also note that this result contradicts alternative theories of gravity such as modified Newtonian dynamics (MOND). We also find that the velocity dispersion of satellites within 100 kpc scales with the absolute magnitude of the central galaxy as σ ∝ L0.3; this is very close to the Tully-Fisher relation for normal spiral galaxies.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics, Instrumentation

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/393320cdfb384f5d9845a897c26892174be40d6f

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Citations in the corpus

Galaxy Rotation Curves without Nonbaryonic Dark Matter (2005, methodology): “This is consistent with the results of Prada et al. (2003) and gravitational lensing results for galaxy clusters (Sheldon et al. 2004).”
The Luminosity and Color Dependence of the Galaxy Correlation Function (2004, background): “Dynamical mass estimates of galaxies from velocity dispersions of stars (e.g., Padmanabhan et al. 2004) or satellite galaxies (e.g., Prada et al. 2003; McKay et al. 2002) and aperture mass measured from weak lensing (e.g., McKay et al. 2001; Sheldon et al. 2004; Tasitsiomi et al. 2004) do not show…”
Properties of galaxy groups in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey – I. The dependence of colour, star formation and morphology on halo mass (2005, methodology): “Following an approach similar to McKay et al. (2002), Prada et al. (2003) and Brainerd & Specian (2003), we identify a galaxy as ‘central’, and thus as the centre of a potential group, when it is the brightest galaxy in a cylinder of radius 1 h−1 Mpc and a velocity depth of 500 km s−1.”
Satellite kinematics – III. Halo masses of central galaxies in SDSS (2010, unknown): “Contrary to most previous studies of satellite kinematics (McKay et al. 2002; Brainerd & Specian 2003; Prada et al. 2003; Conroy et al. 2005, 2007; Norberg, Frenk & Cole 2008), we do not use fixed values for these parameters.”
The alignment between the distribution of satellites and the orientation of their central galaxy (2006, background): “…of the haloes (e.g., Zaritsky et al. 1993, 1997a; McKay et al. 2002; Brainerd & Specian 2003; van den Bosch et al. 2004), the radial trend of the projected velocity dispersion of satellite galaxies can also put constraints on the radial density distribution of the dark matter (Prada et al. 2003).”
The Sloan Lens ACS Survey. VI. Discovery and Analysis of a Double Einstein Ring (2008, background): “…al. 2003), weak lensing (e.g. Brainerd et al. 1996; Hoekstra et al. 2004; Sheldon et al. 2004; Mandelbaum et al. 2006), or dynamics of satellite galaxies (e.g. Prada et al. 2003; Conroy et al. 2007) which is one of the main ingredients of the standard Λ cold dark matter (ΛCDM) cosmological model.”
Galaxy cluster masses without non-baryonic dark matter (2005, methodology): “Using the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), Prada et al. (2003) have studied the velocities of satellites orbiting isolated galaxies.”
A MaxBCG Catalog of 13,823 Galaxy Clusters from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (2007, result): “This stacking approach is analogous to that applied in the study of halo masses in isolated galaxies by McKay et al. (2002) and Prada et al. (2003).”
NEW CONSTRAINTS ON THE EVOLUTION OF THE STELLAR-TO-DARK MATTER CONNECTION: A COMBINED ANALYSIS OF GALAXY–GALAXY LENSING, CLUSTERING, AND STELLAR MASS FUNCTIONS FROM z = 0.2 to z = 1 (2011, background): “…et al. 2006a, 2006b; Heymans et al. 2006a; Johnston et al. 2007; Leauthaud et al. 2010) and the kinematics of satellite galaxies (McKay et al. 2002; Prada et al. 2003; Brainerd & Specian 2003; van den Bosch et al. 2004; Conroy et al. 2007; Becker et al. 2007; Norberg et al. 2008; More et al.…”
GALAXY CLUSTERING IN THE COMPLETED SDSS REDSHIFT SURVEY: THE DEPENDENCE ON COLOR AND LUMINOSITY (2010, background): “Studies of weak lensing and satellite galaxies show that the halos of luminous galaxies extend to hundreds of kpc, where they join smoothly onto the larger scale distribution of dark matter (e.g., Zaritsky & White 1994; Fischer et al. 2000; Prada et al. 2003; Mandelbaum et al. 2006).”
Satellite kinematics – II. The halo mass–luminosity relation of central galaxies in SDSS (2008, methodology): “…large data sets have been used to infer the mass–luminosity relationship (MLR) of central galaxies (McKay et al. 2002; Brainerd & Specian 2003; Prada et al. 2003; van den Bosch et al. 2004; Conroy et al. 2005, 2007) and to study the density profiles of dark matter haloes (Prada et al. 2003;…”
The structure of galactic disks - Studying late-type spiral galaxies using SDSS (2006, background): “Galaxy is isolated according to Prada et al. (2003), but has one SDSS-detected dwarf companion (∼ 18.0 g′-mag) about 10′away with similar velocity (v = 1744km s−1 ) and another possible, dwarf companion (or large H region) projected on the south part of the disk (no counterpart in NED), which is…”
DARK MATTER HALOS IN THE STANDARD COSMOLOGICAL MODEL: RESULTS FROM THE BOLSHOI SIMULATION (2010, background): “…Klypin et al. 1999; Coĺın et al. 1999), the potential annihilation signal of dark matter (e.g., Kuhlen et al. 2008; Springel et al. 2008; Ando 2009), and motion of satellites as a probe for masses of isolated galaxies and groups (e.g., Prada et al. 2003; Klypin & Prada 2009; More et al. 2009).”
Masses for the Local Group and the Milky Way (2007, background): “…statistical analyses of the ⋆ Email: ysleigh@astro.rug.nl † Email: swhite@MPA-Garching.MPG.DE dynamics of satellite galaxies (e.g. Zaritsky et al. 1997; Prada et al. 2003) and of the gravitational lensing of background galaxies (e.g. Seljak 2002; Mandelbaum et al. 2006) based on large samples of…”
Galaxy Masses: A Review (2013, methodology): “Prada et al. (2003) and Klypin & Prada (2009) used the SDSS to stack the PPS built from the satellites of thousands of otherwise fairly isolated galaxies and found it to be consistent with the predictions of ΛCDM simulations.”
A COMPREHENSIVE ANALYSIS OF UNCERTAINTIES AFFECTING THE STELLAR MASS–HALO MASS RELATION FOR 0 < z < 4 (2010, methodology): “Klypin et al (in preparation) have derived the mean halo mass as a function of stellar mass using satellite dynamics of SDSS galaxies (see also Prada et al. 2003; van den Bosch et al. 2004; Conroy et al. 2007).”