Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Dec 1993
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1993aj....106.2229m&link_type=abstract
The Astronomical Journal (ISSN 0004-6256), vol. 106, no. 6, p. 2229-2242
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
41
Dark Matter, Galactic Halos, Galaxies, Globular Clusters, Velocity Distribution, Anisotropy, Density (Mass/Volume), Mathematical Models, Precision
Scientific paper
We investigate the constraints that can be placed on the distribution of dark matter around M87 using the 43 globular cluster velocities reported by Mould et al. (1990). if the globular cluster system is assumed to be spherical, with an isotropic velocity distribution, we find that the most likely dependence of the dark matter density on radius is rho (r) proportional to r-1.8 between about 3 and 30 kpc, where the exponent lies between 0.2 and 3.0 with 99% confidence. The total mass in the M87 halo within 50 kpc is 6.0 +4-1 x 1012 solar mass (90% confidence), consistent with current estimates from x-ray data. We estimate that a sample of roughly 200 velocities would be required to determine the exponent describing the mass density falloff to a precision of +/- 0.5 in a system like M87, under the isotropic hypothesis. The minimum number of velocities required to detect the presence of velocity anisotropy in the M87 globular cluster system is of order one thousand.
Merritt David
Tremblay Benoit
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