Dominant dark matter and a counter rotating disc: MUSE view of the low luminosity S0 galaxy NGC 5102

TL;DR

This study uses MUSE integral field spectroscopy to reveal a counter-rotating disc and dark matter properties in the low-luminosity S0 galaxy NGC 5102, challenging previous assumptions about galaxy mass distribution.

Contribution

It provides the first kinematic evidence of counter-rotating discs in NGC 5102 and models its dark matter halo, revealing unique mass distribution characteristics.

Findings

Detection of counter-rotating stellar discs in NGC 5102.

Dark matter fraction of 0.37 within one effective radius.

Total mass density slope of -1.75, shallower than isothermal halos.

Abstract

The kinematics and stellar populations of the low-mass nearby S0 galaxy NGC 5102 are studied from integral field spectra taken with the Multi-Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE). The kinematic maps reveal for the first time that NGC 5102 has the characteristic 2 sigma peaks indicative of galaxies with counter-rotating discs. This interpretation is quantitatively confirmed by fitting two kinematic components to the observed spectra. Through stellar population analysis we confirm the known young stellar population in the centre and find steep age and metallicity gradients. We construct axisymmetric Jeans anisotropic models of the stellar dynamics to investigate the initial mass function (IMF) and the dark matter halo of the galaxy. The models show that this galaxy is quite different from all galaxies previously studied with a similar approach: even within the half-light radius, it cannot be approximated with the self-consistent mass-follows-light assumption. Including an NFW dark matter halo, we need a heavy IMF and a dark matter fraction of 0.37+-0.04 within a sphere of one effective radius to describe the stellar kinematics. The more general model with a free slope of the dark matter halo shows that slope and IMF are degenerate, but indicates that a light weight IMF (Chabrier-like) and a higher dark matter fraction, with a steeper (contracted) halo, fit the data better. Regardless of the assumptions about the halo profile, we measure the slope of the total mass density to be -1.75+-0.04. This is shallower than the slope of -2 of an isothermal halo and shallower than published slopes for more massive early type galaxies.