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Astronomy and AstrophysicsVolume 625, 1 May 2019, Article number A32

Study of gravitational fields and globular cluster systems of early-type galaxies(Article)(Open Access)

  • Bílek, M.,
  • Samurović, S.,
  • Renaud, F.
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  • aAstronomical Institute, Czech Academy of Sciences, Boční II 1401/1a, Prague, 141 00, Czech Republic
  • bFaculty of Mathematics and Physics, Charles University in Prague, Ke Karlovu 3, Prague, 121 16, Czech Republic
  • cAstronomical Observatory, Volgina 7, Belgrade, 11060, Serbia
  • dLund Observatory, Sövegatan 27, Lund, 221 00, Sweden

Abstract

Context. Gravitational fields at the outskirts of early-type galaxies (ETGs) are difficult to constrain observationally. It thus remains poorly explored how well the ΛCDM and MOND hypotheses agree with ETGs. Aims. The dearth of studies on this topic motivated us to gather a large sample of ETGs and examine homogeneously which dark matter halos they occupy, whether the halos follow the theoretically predicted stellar-to-halo mass relation (SHMR) and the halo mass-concentration relation (HMCR), whether ETGs obey MOND and the radial acceleration relation (RAR) observed for late-type galaxies (LTGs), and finally whether ΛCDM or MOND perform better in ETGs. Methods. We employed Jeans analysis of radial velocities of globular clusters (GCs). We analysed nearly all ETGs having more than about 100 archival GC radial velocity measurements available. The GC systems of our 17 ETGs extend mostly over ten effective radii. A ΛCDM simulation of GC formation helped us to interpret the results. Results. Successful ΛCDM fits are found for all galaxies, but compared to the theoretical HMCR and SHMR, the best-fit halos usually have concentrations that are too low and stellar masses that are too high for their masses. This might be because of tidal stripping of the halos or because ETGs and LTGs occupy different halos. Most galaxies can be fitted by the MOND models successfully as well, but for some of the galaxies, especially those in centers of galaxy clusters, the observed GC velocity dispersions are too high. This might be a manifestation of the additional dark matter that MOND requires in galaxy clusters. Additionally, we find many signs that the GC systems were perturbed by galaxy interactions. Formal statistical criteria prefer the best-fit ΛCDM models over the MOND models, but this might be due to the higher flexibility of the ΛCDM models. The MOND approach can predict the GC velocity dispersion profiles better. © ESO 2019.

Author keywords

Galaxies: clusters: generalGalaxies: elliptical and lenticular, cDGalaxies: halosGalaxies: interactionsGalaxies: kinematics and dynamicsGravitation

Indexed keywords

Engineering controlled terms:Dark MatterDispersionsGravitational effectsStarsVelocity
Engineering uncontrolled termsDark matter halosGlobular clustersGravitational fieldsRadial accelerationRadial velocityRadial velocity measurementsStatistical criterionVelocity dispersion
Engineering main heading:Galaxies

Funding details

Funding sponsor Funding number Acronym
European Commission
See opportunities by EC
EC
Knut och Alice Wallenbergs Stiftelse
Seventh Framework Programme256772FP7
Ministarstvo Prosvete, Nauke i Tehnološkog Razvoja176021MPNTR
  • 1

    Acknowledgements. We thank Ivana Ebrov\u00E1, Benedikt Diemer, and the anonymous referee for their valuable comments. SS acknowledges the support from the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia through project no. 176021 \u201CVisible and Invisible Mat- ter in Nearby Galaxies: Theory and Observations\u201D. FR acknowledges support from the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation. We acknowledge the usage of the HyperLeda database (http://leda.univ-lyon1.fr). This research has made use of \u201CAladin sky atlas\u201D developed at CDS, Strasbourg Observatory, France. The Digitized Sky Surveys were produced at the Space Telescope Science Institute under US Government grant NAG W-2166. The images of these surveys are based on photographic data obtained using the Oschin Schmidt Telescope on Palomar Mountain and the UK Schmidt Telescope. The plates were processed into the present compressed digital form with the permission of these institutions. We acknowledge support provided by the European Commission through project BELISSIMA (BELgrade Initiative for Space Science, Instrumentation and Modelling in Astrophysics, call FP7-REGPOT-2010-5, contract no. 256772) in the early stage of this project.

  • ISSN: 00046361
  • CODEN: AAEJA
  • Source Type: Journal
  • Original language: English
  • DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/201834675
  • Document Type: Article
  • Publisher: EDP Sciences


© Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

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