Dynamical signatures of a LCDM-halo and the distribution of the baryons in M33

TL;DR

This study maps the gas content and rotation curve of galaxy M33, analyzing its dark matter halo within a LCDM framework, revealing details about its baryonic and dark matter distribution.

Contribution

It provides a detailed dynamical analysis of M33, combining gas and stellar data to constrain its dark matter halo properties within a LCDM cosmology.

Findings

The galaxy's rotation curve rises steeply then flattens out to 130 km/s.

A Navarro-Frenk-White halo profile fits the rotation data well.

The baryonic fraction of M33 is approximately 0.02.

Abstract

We map the neutral atomic gas content of M33 using high resolution VLA and GBT observations and fit a tilted ring model to determine the orientation of the extended gaseous disk and its rotation curve. The disk of M33 warps from 8 kpc outwards without substantial change of its inclination with respect to the line of sight. Rotational velocities rise steeply with radius in the inner disk, reaching 100 km/s in 4 kpc, then the rotation curve becomes more perturbed and flatter with velocities as high as 120-130 km/s out to 23 kpc. We derive the stellar mass surface density map of M33's optical disk, via pixel -SED fitting methods based on population synthesis models, which highlights variations in the mass-to-light ratio. The stellar mass surface further out is estimated from deep images of outer disk fields. Stellar and gas maps are then used in the dynamical analysis of the rotation curve to constrain the dark matter distribution which is relevant at all radii. A dark matter halo with a Navarro-Frenk-White density profile in a LCDM cosmology, provides the best fit to the rotation curve for a dark halo concentration C=10 and a total halo mass of 4.3 10^{11}Msun. This imples a baryonic fraction of order 0.02 and the evolutionary history of this galaxy should account for loss of a large fraction of its original baryonic content.