Accuracy Diagrams for the Galactic Rotation Curve and Kinematical Distances

TL;DR

This paper introduces accuracy diagrams to visualize uncertainties in galactic rotation curves and kinematical distances, aiding in optimizing source selection for better measurement precision.

Contribution

It presents a novel visualization tool, the accuracy diagram, to assess and improve the accuracy of galactic kinematic measurements.

Findings

Accuracy diagrams effectively illustrate uncertainty distributions in the galactic plane.

Optimization strategies for source selection are proposed based on the diagrams.

The method enhances the reliability of galactic rotation and distance measurements.

Abstract

We revisit the methods to determine the Galactic rotation curve and kinematical distances from radial velocities and proper motions. We construct "accuracy diagrams" to show the distributions in the galactic plane of expected uncertainties in the derived quantities such as rotation velocities and kinematical distances. We discuss how to optimize the source selection for measurements of kinematical quantities based on the accuracy diagrams.