Spiral galaxies with non-typical mass-to-light ratios

TL;DR

This study examines the variation of mass-to-light ratios in different galaxy types, revealing that some galaxies deviate from expected trends due to observational errors, dark halo differences, or stellar population peculiarities.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of galaxies with extreme M/L_B ratios, identifying factors causing deviations from typical mass-to-light ratio trends.

Findings

Higher dark halo to stellar mass ratio in bluer galaxies.

Some galaxies exhibit anomalously high or low M/L_B ratios.

Low M/L_B ratios are linked to a deficit of low-mass stars in galaxy discs.

Abstract

Total mass-to-light ratio M/L_B for S0 - Irr galaxies, where M is the dynamical mass within the optical radius R_25, increases systematically with (B-V)_0 color, but slower than that is predicted by stellar population evolution models. It shows that the mean ratio between dark halo and stellar masses is higher for more "blue" galaxies. However some galaxies don't follow this general trend. The properties of galaxies with extremely high and extremely low values of M/L_B ratios are compared, and different factors, accounting for the extremes, are analyzed. The conclusion is that in some cases too high or too low M/L_B ratios are associated with observational errors, in other cases - with non-typical dark halo mass fraction, or with peculiarities of disc stellar population. Particularly, discs of some galaxies with low M/L_B ratios turn out to be unusually "light" for their luminosity and colors, which indicates a substantial deficit of low mass stars as the most probable cause of low M/L_B.