Dynamical Models for NGC 6503 using a Markov Chain Monte Carlo Technique

TL;DR

This paper constructs detailed dynamical models of galaxy NGC 6503 using Bayesian MCMC techniques, analyzing various structural scenarios and their implications for galaxy formation and dark matter distribution.

Contribution

It introduces a Bayesian MCMC approach to model galaxy dynamics, testing different hypotheses for the galaxy's structure and dark matter profile.

Findings

The galaxy's surface brightness profile is best explained by an inner-truncated disc.

The dark halo must have a cuspy profile with gamma > 1.

Dust extinction is ruled out as the cause of the Type II surface brightness profile.

Abstract

We use Bayesian statistics and Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) techniques to construct dynamical models for the spiral galaxy NGC 6503. The constraints include surface brightness profiles which display a Freeman Type II structure; HI and ionized gas rotation curves; the stellar rotation, which is nearly coincident with the ionized gas curve; and the line of sight stellar dispersion, with a sigma-drop at the centre. The galaxy models consist of a Sersic bulge, an exponential disc with an optional inner truncation and a cosmologically motivated dark halo. The Bayesian/MCMC technique yields the joint posterior probability distribution function for the input parameters. We examine several interpretations of the data: the Type II surface brightness profile may be due to dust extinction, to an inner truncated disc or to a ring of bright stars; and we test separate fits to the gas and stellar rotation curves to determine if the gas traces the gravitational potential. We test each of these scenarios for bar stability, ruling out dust extinction. We also find that the gas likely does not trace the gravitational potential, since the predicted stellar rotation curve is then inconsistent with the observed stellar rotation curve. The disc is well fit by an inner-truncated profile, but the possibility of ring formation by a bar to reproduce the Type II profile is also a realistic model. We further find that the halo must have a cuspy profile with gamma > 1; the bulge has a lower M/L than the disc, suggesting a star forming component in the centre of the galaxy; and the bulge, as expected for this late type galaxy, has a low Sersic index with n_b~1-2, suggesting a formation history dominated by secular evolution.