New measurements of stellar kinematics in the core of M87

Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy

Scientific paper

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Galactic Nuclei, Kinematics, Star Clusters, Stellar Motions, Stellar Orbits, Virgo Galactic Cluster, Black Holes (Astronomy), Elliptical Galaxies, Signal To Noise Ratios, Stellar Mass

Scientific paper

New, high S/N spectra of the core of M87 are presented which confirm Dressler's (1980) claim that the velocity dispersion does not continue to rise within r = 1 arcsec, but levels off at sigma about 360 km/s (1980). The line strength of the Mg b feature falls sharply in the nucleus due to the contribution of a nonthermal spectrum. The central light spike in M87 is completely explained by this nonthermal component, in contradiction to Dressler's claim that much of the spike is due to a central star cluster. Maximum entropy models have been constructed to match the new data. They exclude the possibility of a supermassive black hole unless a highly contrived model is accepted. A model with no supermassive black hole which has a mild anisotropy in the stellar orbits is a good fit to the data, but a model having only slightly greater anisotropy can accommodate a central mass concentration of up to one billion solar masses.

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