Dynamics of the Globular Cluster System Associated with M87 (NGC 4486). II. Analysis

By P. Côté, D. McLaughlin, D. Hanes, T. Bridges, D. Geisler, D. Merritt, J. Hesser, G. Harris, M. Lee. 2001

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We present a dynamical analysis of the globular cluster system associated with M87 (=NGC 4486), the cD galaxy near the dynamical center of the Virgo Cluster. The analysis utilizes a new spectroscopic and photometric database, which is described in a companion paper. Using a sample of 278 globular clusters with measured radial velocities and metallicities and new surface density profiles based on wide-field Washington photometry, we study the dynamics of the M87 globular cluster system both globally (for the entire cluster sample) and separately (for the metal-rich and metal-poor globular cluster samples). This constitutes the largest sample of radial velocities for pure Population II tracers yet assembled for any external galaxy. Our principal findings are summarized as follows:

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics

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The ACS Virgo Cluster Survey. XIII. SBF Distance Catalog and the Three-dimensional Structure of the Virgo Cluster (2007, methodology): “…the broken blue circles show the r200/2 for Clusters A and B, as determined from modeling of X-ray mass profiles of M87/Cluster A and M49/Cluster B from ROSAT, optical surface brightness and integrated-light velocity dispersion profiles for M49 and M87 (McLaughlin 1999; Côté et al. 2001, 2003).”
The ACS Virgo Cluster Survey. XII. The Luminosity Function of Globular Clusters in Early-Type Galaxies (2007, background): “…distributions in the Galaxy, in M87, and in M49 are all essentially isotropic—implying orbits with typical axis ratios of onlyra=rp ’ 3—out to the same spatial scales of severalReff, over which the observed GCLF is invariant (see, e.g., Dinescu, Girard, & van Altena 1999; Côté et al. 2001, 2003).”
Filaments, Bubbles, and Weak Shocks in the Gaseous Atmosphere of M87 (2006, methodology): “Equating the buoyancy force to the drag force and taking the galaxy mass from Coté et al. (2001), we find v rise 400 km s 1 over the whole inner 40 kpc of M87.”
The Globular Cluster System of NGC 1399. I. A Wide-Field Photometric Study (2003, background): “Various models have been published that explain the observed bimodality/metallicity distribution, e.g., Ashman & Zepf (1992), Forbes, Brodie, & Grillmair (1997), Côté et al. (2001), and Beasley et al. (2002).”
THE BLACK HOLE MASS, STELLAR MASS-TO-LIGHT RATIO, AND DARK HALO IN M87 (2009, background): “These are compiled in Cote et al. (2001).”
The ACS Virgo Cluster Survey. X. Half-Light Radii of Globular Clusters in Early-Type Galaxies: Environmental Dependencies and a Standard Ruler for Distance Estimation (2005, background): “Moreover, the dependence of the average half-light radius, 〈rh〉, on (g− z)gc (see below) will affect the inferred dependence of 〈rh〉 on µz through differing proportions of metal-rich and metal-poor GCs as a function of radius: i.e., red and blue GCs are often found to have different spatial distribu”
WIDE-FIELD PRECISION KINEMATICS OF THE M87 GLOBULAR CLUSTER SYSTEM (2011, methodology): “The basic idea is that the GCs observed now at some radius r cannot have arrived at a time when r ∼> 2rvir (twice the virial radius of M87; Diemand & Kuhlen 2008).”
The Origin of Angular Momentum in Dark Matter Halos (2001, background): “The globular clusters of M87 and a few other giant elliptical galaxies are also rotating rapidly at large radii (Kissler-Patig & Gerhardt 1998; Cohen 2000; Côté et al. 2001).”
Extragalactic Globular Clusters and Galaxy Formation (2006, background): “From a sample of ∼ 280 velocities, Côté et al. (2001) find that both the metal-poor and metal-rich GCs rotate around the minor axis at ∼ 160−170 km/s, with respective velocity dispersions of ∼ 365 and ∼ 395 km/s, when averaged over the whole system.”
Photometry and the Metallicity Distribution of the Outer Halo of M31. II. The 30 Kiloparsec Field (2001, background): “In addition to this, the outer halos of some giant ellipticals have significant rotation signatures (Côté et al. 2001, 2003; Peng, Ford & Freeman 2004a,b).”
The ATLAS3D project - VII. A new look at the morphology of nearby galaxies: the kinematic morphology-density relation (2011, background): “…computed for a sample of eight clusters, as part of the LoCuSS survey, indicating that ram-stripping becomes important insider <∼ r200/3 (Smith et al. 2010, see also Moran et al. 2007), where for Virgo the virial radius isr200 ≈ 1.6 Mpc (Hoffman et al. 1980; McLaughlin 1999; Côté et al. 2001).”
The SLUGGS Survey: kinematics for over 2500 globular clusters in 12 early-type galaxies (2012, methodology): “Uncertainties on the fits to the GC kinematics are obtained using a bootstrapping method similar to that used by Côté et al. (2001).”
Reflections of Active Galactic Nucleus Outbursts in the Gaseous Atmosphere of M87 (2003, methodology): “…position of the bubble and M(R) is the total gravitating mass within R, then bubble ’ 2R ffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi CWr GM Rð Þ s ’ 4 ; 106 yr; ð1Þ where we have used R ¼ 3400 (2.6 kpc), the projected distance from the cluster center, and M (R) ¼ 1:4 ; 1011 M (Coté et al. 2001).”
The ACS Virgo Cluster Survey. I. Introduction to the Survey (2004, background): “…for both the statistical removal of background sources from the resulting GC catalogs (a crucial issue for the faintest galaxies since they contain relatively few GCs) and the determination of GC surface density profiles (see Côté et al. 2001 for a demonstration of the problems involved).”
The ACS Virgo Cluster Survey. VII. Resolving the Connection between Globular Clusters and Ultracompact Dwarf Galaxies (2005, background): “We suspect that unique location of M87—i.e., sitting at the bottom of the gravitational potential well defined by Virgo and itself, and near the centroid of the dwarf galaxy population in Virgo; Binggeli et al. (1987); Côté et al. (2001)—must play a role in the origin of this excess.”