A First Attempt to Calibrate the Baryonic Tully-Fisher Relation with Gas Dominated Galaxies

TL;DR

This paper calibrates the Baryonic Tully-Fisher relation using gas dominated galaxies, establishing an absolute scale for baryonic mass and rotation speed, and applying it to star dominated galaxies to validate stellar mass estimates.

Contribution

It provides the first calibration of the Baryonic Tully-Fisher relation using gas dominated galaxies, independent of stellar mass estimators.

Findings

BTF slope of 3.94 with small uncertainties

Calibration reproduces mass-to-light ratio trends with color

Normalization aligns with empirical IMF estimates

Abstract

We calibrate the Baryonic Tully-Fisher (BTF) Relation using a sample of gas dominated galaxies. These determine the absolute scale of the baryonic mass--rotation speed relation independent of the choice of stellar mass estimator. We find a BTF slope of 3.94 +/- 0.07 (random) +/- 0.08 (systematic) and a zero point of 1.79 +/- 0.26 (random) +/- 0.25 (systematic). We apply this relation to estimate the stellar masses of star dominated galaxies. This procedure reproduces the trend of mass-to-light ratio with color predicted by population synthesis models. The normalization is also correct, consistent with empirical estimates of the IMF used in such models.