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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

A Dearth Of Dark Matter In Ordinary Elliptical Galaxies, Aaron J. Romanowsky, N. G. Douglas, M. Arnaboldi, K. Kuijken, M. R. Merrifield, N. R. Napolitano, M. Capaccioli Jan 2003

A Dearth Of Dark Matter In Ordinary Elliptical Galaxies, Aaron J. Romanowsky, N. G. Douglas, M. Arnaboldi, K. Kuijken, M. R. Merrifield, N. R. Napolitano, M. Capaccioli

Aaron J. Romanowsky

The kinematics of the outer parts of three intermediate-luminosity elliptical galaxies were studied with the Planetary Nebula Spectrograph. The galaxies' velocity-dispersion profiles were found to decline with the radius, and dynamical modeling of the data indicates the presence of little if any dark matter in these galaxies' halos. This unexpected result conflicts with findings in other galaxy types and poses a challenge to current galaxy formation theories.


Tracing The Star Stream Through M31 Using Planetary Nebula Kinematics, H. R. Merrett, K. Kuijken, M. R. Merrifield, Aaron J. Romanowsky, N. G. Douglas, N. R. Napolitano, M. Arnaboldi, M. Capaccioli, K. C. Freeman, O. Gerhard, N. W. Evans, M. I. Wilkinson, C. Halliday, T. J. Bridges, D. Carter Jan 2003

Tracing The Star Stream Through M31 Using Planetary Nebula Kinematics, H. R. Merrett, K. Kuijken, M. R. Merrifield, Aaron J. Romanowsky, N. G. Douglas, N. R. Napolitano, M. Arnaboldi, M. Capaccioli, K. C. Freeman, O. Gerhard, N. W. Evans, M. I. Wilkinson, C. Halliday, T. J. Bridges, D. Carter

Aaron J. Romanowsky

We present a possible orbit for the Southern Stream of stars in M31, which connects it to the Northern Spur. Support for this model comes from the dynamics of planetary nebulae (PNe) in the disc of M31: analysis of a new sample of 2611 PNe obtained using the Planetary Nebula Spectrograph reveals ∼20 objects with kinematics inconsistent with the normal components of the galaxy, but which lie at the right positions and velocities to connect the two photometric features via this orbit. The satellite galaxy M32 is coincident with the stream both in position and velocity, adding weight to the …


The Planetary Nebula Spectrograph: The Green Light For Galaxy Kinematics, N. G. Douglas, M. Arnaboldi, K. C. Freeman, K. Kuijken, M. R. Merrifield, Aaron J. Romanowsky, K. Taylor, M. Capaccioli, T. Axelrod, R. Gilmozzi, J. Hart, G. Bloxham, D. Jones Jan 2002

The Planetary Nebula Spectrograph: The Green Light For Galaxy Kinematics, N. G. Douglas, M. Arnaboldi, K. C. Freeman, K. Kuijken, M. R. Merrifield, Aaron J. Romanowsky, K. Taylor, M. Capaccioli, T. Axelrod, R. Gilmozzi, J. Hart, G. Bloxham, D. Jones

Aaron J. Romanowsky

Planetary nebulae (PNe) are now well established as probes of galaxy dynamics and as standard candles in distance determinations. Motivated by the need to improve the efficiency of planetary nebulae searches and the speed with which their radial velocities are determined, a dedicated instrument—the Planetary Nebula Spectrograph, or PN.S—has been designed and commissioned at the 4.2 m William Herschel Telescope. The high optical efficiency of the spectrograph results in the detection of typically ∼150 PNe in galaxies at the distance of the Virgo Cluster in one night of observations. In the same observation, the radial velocities are obtained with an …


Dynamics Of Stars And Globular Clusters In M87, Aaron J. Romanowsky, C. S. Kochanek Jan 2001

Dynamics Of Stars And Globular Clusters In M87, Aaron J. Romanowsky, C. S. Kochanek

Aaron J. Romanowsky

We examine the dynamics of the stars and globular clusters in the nearby giant elliptical galaxy M87 and constrain the mass distribution, using all the available data over a large range of radii, including higher order moments of the stellar line-of-sight velocity distributions and the discrete velocities of over 200 globular clusters. We introduce an extension of spherical orbit modeling methods that makes full use of all the information in the data and provides very robust constraints on the mass models. We conclusively rule out a constant mass-to-light ratio model and infer that the radial density profile of the galaxy's …


Constraints On H0 From The Central Velocity Dispersions Of Lens Galaxies, Aaron J. Romanowsky, C. S. Kochanek Jan 1999

Constraints On H0 From The Central Velocity Dispersions Of Lens Galaxies, Aaron J. Romanowsky, C. S. Kochanek

Aaron J. Romanowsky

We employ Schwarzschild's method of the orbit modeling to constrain the mass profiles of the central lens galaxies in Q0957+561 and PG 1115+080. We combine the measured, central projected stellar velocity dispersions of these galaxies with the self-similar radial profiles of the rms velocity and of the Gauss-Hermite moment h4 observed in nearby galaxies for 0 lesssim R lesssim 2Reff. For Q0957+561, we find a 16% uncertainty in the galaxy mass and formal 2 σ limits on the Hubble constant of H0=61$\mathstrut{^{+13}_{-15}}$ km s-1 Mpc-1. For PG 1115+080, we find that none of the viable lens models can be ruled …


Twisting Of X-Ray Isophotes In Triaxial Galaxies, Aaron J. Romanowsky, C. S. Kochanek Jan 1998

Twisting Of X-Ray Isophotes In Triaxial Galaxies, Aaron J. Romanowsky, C. S. Kochanek

Aaron J. Romanowsky

We investigate X-ray isophote twists created by triaxiality differences between the luminous stellar distributions and the dark halos in elliptical galaxies. For a typically oblate luminous galaxy embedded in a more prolate halo formed by dissipationless collapse, the triaxiality difference of ΔT simeq 0.7 leads to typical isophote twists of langΔψXrang simeq 16° ± 19° at 3 effective stellar radii. In a model that includes baryonic dissipation, the effect is smaller, with ΔT simeq 0.3 and langΔψXrang simeq 5° ± 8°. Thus, accurate measurements of X-ray isophote twists may be able to set constraints on the interactions between baryons and …


Structural And Dynamical Uncertainties In Modelling Axisymmetric Elliptical Galaxies, Aaron J. Romanowsky, C. S. Kochanek Jan 1997

Structural And Dynamical Uncertainties In Modelling Axisymmetric Elliptical Galaxies, Aaron J. Romanowsky, C. S. Kochanek

Aaron J. Romanowsky

Quantitative dynamical models of galaxies require deprojection of the observed surface brightness to determine the luminosity density of the galaxy. Existing deprojection methods for axisymmetric galaxies assume that a unique deprojection exists for any given inclination, even though the projected density is known to be degenerate to the addition of ‘konus densities’ that are invisible in projection. We develop a deprojection method based on linear regularization that can explore the range of luminosity densities that are statistically consistent with an observed surface brightness distribution. The luminosity density is poorly constrained at modest inclinations (i ≿ 30°), even in the limit …