Precision Scaling Relations for Disk Galaxies in the Local Universe

TL;DR

This paper constructs precise scaling relations for disk galaxies in the local universe by analyzing rotation curves and stellar/halo properties, providing benchmarks for models and future cosmological studies.

Contribution

It introduces a new method to derive detailed galaxy scaling relations with unprecedented precision across a wide mass range.

Findings

Derived tight scaling relations with less than 0.1 dex dispersion.

Confirmed consistency with previous independent measurements.

Provided a robust benchmark for galaxy formation models.

Abstract

We build templates of rotation curves as a function of the $I-$band luminosity via the mass modeling (by the sum of a thin exponential disk and a cored halo profile) of suitably normalized, stacked data from wide samples of local spiral galaxies. We then exploit such templates to determine fundamental stellar and halo properties for a sample of about $550$ local disk-dominated galaxies with high-quality measurements of the optical radius $R_{\rm opt}$ and of the corresponding rotation velocity $V_{\rm opt}$. Specifically, we determine the stellar $M_\star$ and halo $M_{\rm H}$ masses, the halo size $R_{\rm H}$ and velocity scale ${V_{\rm H}}$, and the specific angular momenta of the stellar $j_\star$ and dark matter $j_{\rm H}$ components. We derive global scaling relationships involving such stellar and halo properties both for the individual galaxies in our sample and for their mean within bins; the latter are found to be in pleasing agreement with previous determinations by independent methods (e.g., abundance matching techniques, weak lensing observations, and individual rotation curve modeling). Remarkably, the size of our sample and the robustness of our statistical approach allow us to attain an unprecedented level of precision over an extended range of mass and velocity scales, with $1\sigma$ dispersion around the mean relationships of less than $0.1$ dex. We thus set new standard local relationships that must be reproduced by detailed physical models, that offer a basis for improving the sub-grid recipes in numerical simulations, that provide a benchmark to gauge independent observations and check for systematics, and that constitute a basic step toward the future exploitation of the spiral galaxy population as a cosmological probe.