Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics – Galaxy Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2011-03-30
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
Galaxy Astrophysics
6 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in Astrophysical Journal Letters
Scientific paper
A galactic disk in a spiral galaxy is generally believed to be embedded in an extended dark matter halo, which dominates its dynamics in the outer parts. However, the shape of the halo is not clearly understood. Here we show that the dark matter halo in the Milky Way Galaxy is prolate in shape. Further, it is increasingly more prolate at larger radii, with the vertical-to-planar axis ratio monotonically increasing to 2.0 at 24 kpc. This is obtained by modeling the observed steeply flaring atomic hydrogen gas layer in the outer Galactic disk, where the gas is supported by pressure against the net gravitational field of the disk and the halo. The resulting prolate-shaped halo can explain several long-standing puzzles in galactic dynamics, for example, it permits long-lived warps thus explaining their ubiquitous nature.
Banerjee Arunima
Jog Chanda J.
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