Rotation curve fitting and its fatal attraction to cores in realistically simulated galaxy observations

We study the role of systematic effects in observational studies of the cusp-core problem under the minimum disc approximation using a suite of high-resolution (25-pc softening length) hydrodynamical simulations of dwarf galaxies. We mimic realistic kinematic observations and fit the mock rotation c...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Pineda, Juan C. B. (Author) , Springel, Volker (Author)
Format: Article (Journal) Chapter/Article
Language:English
Published: 2016
In: Arxiv

Online Access:Verlag, kostenfrei, Volltext: http://arxiv.org/abs/1602.07690
Get full text
Author Notes:Juan C.B. Pineda, Christopher C. Hayward, Volker Springel and Claudia Mendes de Oliveira
Description
Summary:We study the role of systematic effects in observational studies of the cusp-core problem under the minimum disc approximation using a suite of high-resolution (25-pc softening length) hydrodynamical simulations of dwarf galaxies. We mimic realistic kinematic observations and fit the mock rotation curves with two analytic models commonly used to differentiate cores from cusps in the dark matter distribution. We find that the cored pseudo-isothermal sphere (ISO) model is strongly favoured by the reduced $\chi^2_\nu$ of the fits in spite of the fact that our simulations contain cuspy Navarro-Frenk-White profiles (NFW). We show that even idealized measurements of the gas circular motions can lead to the incorrect answer if velocity underestimates induced by pressure support, with a typical size of order $\si
Item Description:Gesehen am 23.10.2017
Physical Description:Online Resource