Do the low PN velocity dispersions around elliptical galaxies imply that these lack dark matter?

Gary A. Mamon*, Avishai Dekel, Felix Stoehr

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

While kinematical modelling of the low PN velocity dispersions observed in the outer regions of elliptical galaxies suggest a lack of dark matter around these galaxies, we report on an analysis of a suite of N-body simulations (with gas) of major mergers of spiral galaxies embedded in dark matter halos, and find that the outer velocity dispersions are as low as observed for the PNe. The inconsistency between our dynamical modelling and previous kinematical modelling is caused by very radial stellar orbits and projection effects when viewing face-on oblate ellipticals. Our simulations (weakly) suggest the youth of PNe around ellipticals, and we propose that the universality of the PN luminosity function may be explained if the bright PNe in ellipticals are formed after the regular accretion of very low mass gas-rich galaxies.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationPLANETARY NEBULAE AS ASTRONOMICAL TOOLS
Subtitle of host publicationInternational Conference on Planetary Nebulae as Astronomical Tools
Pages345-350
Number of pages6
DOIs
StatePublished - 28 Nov 2005
EventInternational Conference on Planetary Nebulae as Astronomical Tools - Gdansk, Poland
Duration: 28 Jun 20052 Jul 2005

Publication series

NameAIP Conference Proceedings
Volume804
ISSN (Print)0094-243X
ISSN (Electronic)1551-7616

Conference

ConferenceInternational Conference on Planetary Nebulae as Astronomical Tools
Country/TerritoryPoland
CityGdansk
Period28/06/052/07/05

Keywords

  • Dark matter
  • Elliptical galaxies
  • Galaxy mergers
  • Planetary nebulae

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