scholarly journals Gravitational Microlensing By Random Motion Of Stars: Movie and Analysis of Light Curves

1996 ◽  
Vol 173 ◽  
pp. 287-288
Author(s):  
Joachim Wambsganss ◽  
Tomislav Kundić

We present a quantitative analysis of the effect of microlensing caused by random motion of individual stars in a galaxy lensing a background quasar. We calculate a large number of magnification patterns for positions of the stars slightly offset from one frame to the next, and thus obtain light curves for fixed quasar and galaxy positions, only due to the change in the relative star positions. These light curves are analyzed to identify microlensing events, which are then classified with respect to height, duration, and slope. These random motion microlensing events are compared with the corresponding ones caused by the bulk motion of the galaxy.We find that microlensing events produced by random motion of stars are shorter, steeper, and more frequent than bulk motion events, assuming the velocity dispersion of the stars equals the bulk velocity of the galaxy. The reason for this difference is that in the case of random motion, caustics can move with an arbitrarily high velocity, producing very short events, whereas in the comparison case for bulk motion a microlensing event can never be shorter than it takes a fold caustic, which moves with the velocity of the lensing galaxy projected onto the quasar plane, to cross the quasar. An accompanying video illustrates these results. For three different values of the surface mass density κ, it shows time sequences of 1000 magnification patterns for slowly changing lens positions, together with the positions and velocity vectors of the microlensing stars. The full paper including the video can be found in Wambsganss & Kundić (1995). A short version of the video is available as an MPEG movie under anonymous ftp at astro.princeton.edu, in the directory jkw/microlensing/moving_stars.

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (S334) ◽  
pp. 304-305
Author(s):  
Jorrit H. J. Hagen ◽  
Amina Helmi

AbstractWe investigate the kinematics of red clump stars in the Solar neighbourhood by combining data from the RAVE survey with the TGAS dataset presented in Gaia DR1. Our goal is to put new constraints on the (local) distribution of mass using the Jeans Equations. Here we show the variation of the vertical velocity dispersion as function of height above the mid-plane for both a thin and a thick disk tracer sample and present preliminary results.


2020 ◽  
Vol 500 (3) ◽  
pp. 3579-3593
Author(s):  
S Aniyan ◽  
A A Ponomareva ◽  
K C Freeman ◽  
M Arnaboldi ◽  
O E Gerhard ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT The mass-to-light ratio (M/L) is a key parameter in decomposing galactic rotation curves into contributions from the baryonic components and the dark halo of a galaxy. One direct observational method to determine the disc M/L is by calculating the surface mass density of the disc from the stellar vertical velocity dispersion and the scale height of the disc. Usually, the scale height is obtained from near-IR studies of edge-on galaxies and pertains to the older, kinematically hotter stars in the disc, while the vertical velocity dispersion of stars is measured in the optical band and refers to stars of all ages (up to ∼10 Gyr) and velocity dispersions. This mismatch between the scale height and the velocity dispersion can lead to underestimates of the disc surface density and a misleading conclusion of the submaximality of galaxy discs. In this paper, we present the study of the stellar velocity dispersion of the disc galaxy NGC 6946 using integrated star light and individual planetary nebulae as dynamical tracers. We demonstrate the presence of two kinematically distinct populations of tracers that contribute to the total stellar velocity dispersion. Thus, we are able to use the dispersion and the scale height of the same dynamical population to derive the surface mass density of the disc over a radial extent. We find the disc of NGC 6946 to be closer to maximal with the baryonic component contributing most of the radial gravitational field in the inner parts of the galaxy (Vmax(bar) = 0.76(±0.14)Vmax).


2019 ◽  
Vol 489 (3) ◽  
pp. 4090-4110 ◽  
Author(s):  
F La Barbera ◽  
A Vazdekis ◽  
I Ferreras ◽  
A Pasquali ◽  
C Allende Prieto ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Using new long-slit spectroscopy obtained with X-Shooter at ESO-VLT, we study, for the first time, radial gradients of optical and near-infrared initial mass function (IMF)-sensitive features in a representative sample of galaxies at the very high mass end of the galaxy population. The sample consists of seven early-type galaxies (ETGs) at z ∼ 0.05, with central velocity dispersion in the range 300 ≲ σ ≲ 350 km s−1. Using state-of-the-art stellar population synthesis models, we fit a number of spectral indices, from different chemical species (including TiO and Na indices), to constrain the IMF slope (i.e. the fraction of low-mass stars), as a function of galactocentric distance, over a radial range out to ∼4 kpc. ETGs in our sample show a significant correlation of IMF slope and surface mass density. The bottom-heavy population (i.e. an excess of low-mass stars in the IMF) is confined to central galaxy regions with surface mass density above $\rm \sim 10^{10}\, M_\odot \, kpc^{-2}$, or, alternatively, within a characteristic radius of ∼2 kpc. Radial distance, in physical units, and surface mass density are the best correlators to IMF variations, with respect to other dynamical (e.g. velocity dispersion) and stellar population (e.g. metallicity) properties. Our results for the most massive galaxies suggest that there is no single parameter that fully explains variations in the stellar IMF, but IMF radial profiles at z ∼ 0 rather result from the complex formation and mass accretion history of galaxy inner and outer regions.


1997 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Penny D. Sackett

AbstractAlthough the approximately flat rotation curves of gas in the outskirts of spirals are generally taken as strong evidence for spherical, isothermal dark matter halos, this conclusion is often incorrect and always model-dependent. A re-examination of the old and (nearly) model-independent inversion technique for determining the surface mass density of galaxies from their kinematics is presented. The method is shown to be relatively insensitive to noise in the kinematics. Due to incomplete kinematical knowledge at large radius, however, the surface mass density is reliable only in the inner half of the galaxy, a result that also applies to traditional rotation curve fitting techniques.


2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (S321) ◽  
pp. 267-267
Author(s):  
S. Aniyan ◽  
K. C. Freeman ◽  
M. Arnaboldi ◽  
O. Gerhard ◽  
L. Coccato ◽  
...  

AbstractThe decomposition of the 21 cm rotation curve of galaxies into contribution from the disk and dark halo depends on the adopted mass to light ratio (M/L) of the disk. Given the vertical velocity dispersion (σz) of stars in the disk and its scale height (h), the disk surface density and hence the M/L can be estimated. Earlier works have used this technique to conclude that galaxy disks are submaximal. Here we address an important conceptual problem: σz and h must pertain to the same population. Our analysis concludes that previous studies underestimate the disk surface mass density by ~ 2, sufficient to make a maximal disk for M74 appear like a submaximal disk.


2018 ◽  
Vol 853 (1) ◽  
pp. 39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Or Graur ◽  
K. Decker French ◽  
H. Jabran Zahid ◽  
James Guillochon ◽  
Kaisey S. Mandel ◽  
...  

1975 ◽  
Vol 69 ◽  
pp. 331-340 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. S. Roberts

Currently available data on rotation curves are reviewed. For curves derived from optical measurements the distribution of the ratios: the last measured point on a rotation curve to the optical radius of the galaxy has a median value of if Reference Catalogue radii are used and if Holmberg radii are used. It is the absence of easily measurable H II regions that so severely limits the extent of these rotation curves. Accordingly, little can be said of the dependence of Vc on R for large R, where R is comparable to a Holmberg radius. The assumption that a rotation curve approaches a Keplerian curve after passing its peak rotational velocity implies a strongly concentrated and limited extent of the mass distribution within a galaxy. This assumption is not supported by 21-cm observations of the velocity field within a galaxy. Because of the greater extent of H I compared to measurable optical (blue) surface brightness, rotation curves may be defined to much larger radii from 21-cm observations. The median value of the above ratio for 14 galaxies is 1.3. At least 7 of these galaxies show an essentially constant rotational velocity at large R, while 5 galaxies have a slowly decreasing Vc(R). For both types of curves, a significant surface mass density at large R is required, and a large (≳ 100) mass-to-luminosity ratio is indicated. Such values are consistent with a late dwarf M star population (the most common type of star in the solar neighborhood) in the outer regions of a galaxy.


Author(s):  
Francesco D’Eugenio ◽  
Matthew Colless ◽  
Nicholas Scott ◽  
Arjen van der Wel ◽  
Roger L Davies ◽  
...  

Abstract We study the Fundamental Plane (FP) for a volume- and luminosity-limited sample of 560 early-type galaxies from the SAMI survey. Using r −band sizes and luminosities from new Multi-Gaussian Expansion (MGE) photometric measurements, and treating luminosity as the dependent variable, the FP has coefficients a = 1.294 ± 0.039, b = 0.912 ± 0.025, and zero-point c = 7.067 ± 0.078. We leverage the high signal-to-noise of SAMI integral field spectroscopy, to determine how structural and stellar-population observables affect the scatter about the FP. The FP residuals correlate most strongly (8σ significance) with luminosity-weighted simple-stellar-population (SSP) age. In contrast, the structural observables surface mass density, rotation-to-dispersion ratio, Sérsic index and projected shape all show little or no significant correlation. We connect the FP residuals to the empirical relation between age (or stellar mass-to-light ratio ϒ⋆ ) and surface mass density, the best predictor of SSP age amongst parameters based on FP observables. We show that the FP residuals (anti-)correlate with the residuals of the relation between surface density and ϒ⋆ . This correlation implies that part of the FP scatter is due to the broad age and ϒ⋆ distribution at any given surface mass density. Using virial mass and ϒ⋆ we construct a simulated FP and compare it to the observed FP. We find that, while the empirical relations between observed stellar population relations and FP observables are responsible for most (75 per cent) of the FP scatter, on their own they do not explain the observed tilt of the FP away from the virial plane.


2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (S323) ◽  
pp. 284-287
Author(s):  
S. Aniyan ◽  
K. C. Freeman ◽  
M. Arnaboldi ◽  
O. Gerhard ◽  
L. Coccato ◽  
...  

AbstractThe decomposition of the 21 cm rotation curve of galaxies into contribution from the disk and dark halo depends on the adopted mass to light ratio (M/L) of the disk. Given the vertical velocity dispersion (σz) of stars in the disk and its scale height (hz), the disk surface density and hence the M/L can be estimated. Earlier works have used this technique to conclude that galaxy disks are submaximal. Here we address an important conceptual problem: star-forming spirals have an old (kinematically hot) disk population and a young cold disk population. Both of these populations contribute to the integrated light spectra from which σz is measured. The measured scale height hz is for the old disk population. In the Jeans equation, σz and hz must pertain to the same population. We have developed techniques to extract the velocity dispersion of the old disk from integrated light spectra and from samples of planetary nebulae. We present the analysis of the disk kinematics of the galaxy NGC 628 using IFU data in the inner regions and planetary nebulae as tracers in the outer regions of the disk. We demonstrate that using the scale height of the old thin disk with the vertical velocity dispersion of the same population, traced by PNe, results in a maximal disk for NGC 628. Our analysis concludes that previous studies underestimate the disk surface mass density by ~ 2, sufficient to make a maximal disk for NGC 628 appear like a submaximal disk.


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