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Low-mass galaxy rotation curves that fail as dynamical mass tracers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 October 2025

K. A. Oman*
Affiliation:
Institute for Computational Cosmology, Durham University, South Road, Durham, DH1 3LE, United Kingdom Department of Physics, Durham University, South Road, Durham, DH1 3LE, United Kingdom
E. R. Downing
Affiliation:
Institute for Computational Cosmology, Durham University, South Road, Durham, DH1 3LE, United Kingdom Department of Physics, Durham University, South Road, Durham, DH1 3LE, United Kingdom

Abstract

It is routinely assumed that galaxy rotation curves are equal to their circular velocity curves (modulo some corrections) such that they are good dynamical mass tracers. We analysed 33 low-mass galaxies from the APOSTLE simulation suite to explore the limits of validity of this assumption. Only 3 galaxies have rotation curves similar to their circular velocity curves; the rest are undergoing a wide variety of dynamical perturbations. We assessed how many galaxies are likely to be strongly perturbed by processes in several categories: mergers/interactions, bulk gas flows, non-spherical DM halo, warps, and IGM ram pressure. Most galaxies fall into more than one of these categories; only 5/33 are not in any of them. The sum of these effects leads to an underestimation of the low-velocity slope of the baryonic Tully-Fisher relation that is difficult to avoid, and could contribute to the observed diversity in low-mass galaxy rotation curve shapes.

Information

Type
Poster Paper
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of International Astronomical Union

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