No Arabic abstract
Using the Tuorla-Heidelberg model for the mass distribution of the Milky Way, I determine the rotation curve predicted by MOND. The result is in good agreement with the observed terminal velocities interior to the solar radius and with estimates of the Galaxys rotation curve exterior thereto. There are no fit parameters: given the mass distribution, MOND provides a good match to the rotation curve. The Tuorla-Heidelberg model does allow for a variety of exponential scale lengths; MOND prefers short scale lengths in the range 2.0 to 2.5 kpc. The favored value of scale length depends somewhat on the choice of interpolation function. There is some preference for the `simple interpolation function as found by Famaey & Binney. I introduce an interpolation function that shares the advantages of the simple function on galaxy scales while having a much smaller impact in the solar system. I also solve the inverse problem, inferring the surface mass density distribution of the Milky Way from the terminal velocities. The result is a Galaxy with `bumps and wiggles in both its luminosity profile and rotation curve that are reminiscent of those frequently observed in external galaxies.
Mass models of 15 nearby dwarf and spiral galaxies are presented. The galaxies are selected to be homogeneous in terms of the method used to determine their distances, the sampling of their rotation curves (RCs) and the mass-to-light ratio (M/L) of their stellar contributions, which will minimize the uncertainties on the mass model results. Those RCs are modeled using the MOdified Newtonian Dynamics (MOND) prescription and the observationally motivated pseudo-isothermal (ISO) dark matter (DM) halo density distribution. For the MOND models with fixed (M/L), better fits are obtained when the constant a$_{0}$ is allowed to vary, giving a mean value of (1.13 $pm$ 0.50) $times$ 10$^{-8}$ cm s$^{-2}$, compared to the standard value of 1.21 $times$ 10$^{-8}$ cm s$^{-2}$. Even with a$_{0}$ as a free parameter, MOND provides acceptable fits (reduced $chi^{2}_{r}$ $<$ 2) for only 60% (9/15) of the sample. The data suggest that galaxies with higher central surface brightnesses tend to favor higher values of the constant a$_{0}$. This poses a serious challenge to MOND since a$_{0}$ should be a universal constant. For the DM models, our results confirm that the DM halo surface density of ISO models is nearly constant at $ rho_{0} R_{C} sim 120 M_{odot} pc^{-2}$. This means that if the (M/L) is determined by stellar population models, ISO DM models are left with only one free parameter, the DM halo central surface density.
Recent interest in primordial black holes as a possible dark matter candidate has motivated the reanalysis of previous methods for constraining massive astrophysical compact objects in the Milky Way halo and beyond. In order to derive these constraints, a model for the dark matter distribution around the Milky Way must be used. Previous microlensing searches have assumed a semi-isothermal density sphere for this task. We show this model is no longer consistent with data from the Milky Way rotation curve, and test two replacement models, namely NFW and power-law. The power-law model is the most flexible as it can break spherical symmetry, and best fits the data. Thus, we recommend the power-law model as a replacement, although it still lacks the flexibility to fully encapsulate all possible shapes of the Milky Way halo. We then use the power-law model to rederive some previous microlensing constraints in the literature, while propagating the primary halo-shape uncertainties through to our final constraints. Our analysis reveals that the microlensing constraints towards the Large Magellanic Cloud weaken somewhat for MACHO masses around $10, M_odot$ when this uncertainty is taken into account, but the constraints tighten at lower masses. Exploring some of the simplifying assumptions of previous constraints we also study the effect of wide mass distributions of compact halo objects, as well as the effect of spatial clustering on microlensing constraints. We find that both effects induce a shift in the constraints towards smaller masses, and can effectively remove the microlensing constraints from $M sim 1-10 M_odot$ for certain MACHO populations.
We present new calculations of the mass inflow and outflow rates around the Milky Way, derived from a catalog of ultraviolet metal-line high velocity clouds (HVCs). These calculations are conducted by transforming the HVC velocities into the Galactic Standard of Rest (GSR) reference frame, identifying inflowing (v_GSR < 0 km/s) and outflowing (v_GSR > 0 km/s) populations, and using observational constraints on the distance, metallicity, dust content, covering fractions, and total hydrogen column density of each population. After removing HVCs associated with the Magellanic Stream and the Fermi Bubbles, we find inflow and outflow rates in cool (T~10^4 K) ionized gas of dM_in/dt >~ 0.53+/-0.17 (d/12 kpc) (Z/0.2 Z_sun)^-1 M_sun/yr and dM_out/dt >~ 0.16+/-0.06 (d/12 kpc) (Z/0.5 Z_sun)^-1 M_sun/yr. The excess of inflowing over outflowing gas suggests that the Milky Way is currently in an inflow-dominated phase, but the presence of substantial mass flux in both directions supports a Galactic fountain model, in which gas is constantly recycled between the disk and the halo. We also find that the metal flux in both directions (in and out) is indistinguishable. By comparing the outflow rate to the Galactic star formation rate, we present the first estimate of the mass loading factor (etc_HVC) of the disk-wide Milky Way wind, finding eta_HVC >~ 0.10+/-0.06 (d/12 kpc) (Z/0.5 Z_sun)^-1. Including the contributions from low- and intermediate-velocity clouds and from hot gas would increase these inflow and outflow estimates.
In its first part, this paper summarizes recent work on the mass and shape of the Galactic dark halo. The second part presents a review of the large-scale structure of the Milky Way, and of the evidence that the inner Galaxy is dominated by baryonic matter. This is briefly compared with the predictions of LCDM and MOND. Finally, a summary is given of bulge formation from clumpy, gas-rich disks, a process which may give rise to old, disk-like, alpha-rich bulges similar to the Galactic bulge.
We present Hubble Space Telescope (HST) absolute proper motion (PM) measurements for 20 globular clusters (GCs) in the Milky Way (MW) halo at Galactocentric distances $R_{rm GC} approx 10-100$ kpc, with median per-coordinate PM uncertainty 0.06 mas yr$^{-1}$. Young and old halo GCs do not show systematic differences in their 3D Galactocentric velocities, derived from combination with existing line-of-sight velocities. We confirm the association of Arp 2, Pal 12, Terzan 7, and Terzan 8 with the Sagittarius (Sgr) stream. These clusters and NGC 6101 have tangential velocity $V_{rm tan} > 290$ km s$^{-1}$, whereas all other clusters have $V_{rm tan} < 200$ km s$^{-1}$. NGC 2419, the most distant GC in our sample, is also likely associated with the Sgr stream, whereas NGC 4147, NGC 5024, and NGC 5053 definitely are not. We use the distribution of orbital parameters derived using the 3D velocities to separate halo GCs that either formed within the MW or were accreted. We also assess the specific formation history of e.g. Pyxis and Terzan 8. We constrain the MW mass via an estimator that considers the full 6D phase-space information for 16 of the GCs from $R_{rm GC} = 10$ to 40 kpc. The velocity dispersion anisotropy parameter $beta = 0.609^{+0.130}_{-0.229}$. The enclosed mass $M (<39.5 rm{kpc}) = 0.61^{+0.18}_{-0.12} times 10^{12}$ M$_{odot}$, and the virial mass $M_rm{vir} = 2.05^{+0.97}_{-0.79} times 10^{12}$ M$_{odot}$, are consistent with, but on the high side among recent mass estimates in the literature.