Analytical Potentials for Flat Galaxies with Spheroidal Halos

TL;DR

This paper introduces analytical models for flat galaxies with spheroidal halos, accurately fitting observed rotation curves and ensuring stability, by combining potential contributions from thin disks and spheroidal halos.

Contribution

The paper presents a new family of analytical potential-density pairs for flat galaxies with spheroidal halos, enabling precise modeling of rotation curves and mass distributions.

Findings

Models fit observed galaxy rotation curves accurately.

Mass estimates align with expected magnitudes.

Models are stable against perturbations.

Abstract

A family of analytical potential-density pairs for flat galaxies with spheroidal halos is presented. The potential are obtained by means of the sum of two independent terms: a potential associated with a thin disc and a potential associated with a spheroidal halo, which are expressed as appropriated superpositions of products of Legendre functions, in such a way that the model implies a linear relationship between the masses of the thin disc and the spheroidal halo. By taking a particular case for the halo potential, we found that the circular velocity obtained can be adjusted very accurately to the observed rotation curves of some specific galaxies, so that the models are stable against radial and vertical perturbations. Two particular models for the galaxies NGC4389 and UGC6969 are obtained by adjusting the circular velocity with data of the observed rotation curve of some galaxies of the Ursa Mayor Cluster, as reported in Verheijen and Sancisi 2001. The values of the halo mass and the disc mass for these two galaxies are computed obtaining a very narrow interval of values for these quantities. Furthermore, the values of obtained masses are in perfect agreement with the expected order of magnitude and with the relative order of magnitude between the halo mass and the disc mass.