The DOI matches its Crossref record; 95 of the 95 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Estimating the dark matter halo mass of our Milky Way using dynamical tracers
Open accessAbstract
The mass of the dark matter halo of the Milky Way can be estimated by fitting analytical models to the phase-space distribution of dynamical tracers. We test this approach using realistic mock stellar haloes constructed from the Aquarius N-body simulations of dark matter haloes in the Λ cold dark matter cosmology. We extend the standard treatment to include a Navarro–Frenk–White potential and use a maximum likelihood method to recover the parameters describing the simulated haloes from the positions and velocities of their mock halo stars. We find that the estimate of halo mass is highly correlated with the estimate of halo concentration. The best-fitting halo masses within the virial radius, R200, are biased, ranging from a 40 per cent underestimate to a 5 per cent overestimate in the best case (when the tangential velocities of the tracers are included). There are several sources of bias. Deviations from dynamical equilibrium can potentially cause significant bias; deviations from spherical symmetry are relatively less important. Fits to stars at different galactocentric radii can give different mass estimates. By contrast, the model gives good constraints on the mass within the half-mass radius of tracers even when restricted to tracers within 60 kpc. The recovered velocity anisotropies of tracers, β, are biased systematically, but this does not affect other parameters if tangential velocity data are used as constraints.
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Cites
Spergel, D. N., Verde, L., Peiris, H. V., Komatsu, E., Nolta, M. R., Bennett, C. L., Halpern, M., Hinshaw, G., Jarosik, N., Kogut, A., et al. (2003) · The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series · doi:10.1086/377226 · Cited by 10,976
A Universal Density Profile from Hierarchical Clustering
Navarro, J. F., Frenk, C. S., & White, S. D. M. (1997) · The Astrophysical Journal · doi:10.1086/304888 · Cited by 9,917
Self-citationThe Structure of Cold Dark Matter Halos
Navarro, J. F., Frenk, C. S., & White, S. D. M. (1996) · The Astrophysical Journal · doi:10.1086/177173 · Cited by 8,544
Self-citationA Universal Density Profile from Hierarchical ClusteringPreprint
Navarro, J. F., Frenk, C. S., & White, S. D. M. (1996) · Cited by 6,275
Self-citationMinuit - a system for function minimization and analysis of the parameter errors and correlations
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Bartelmann, M., & Schneider, P. (2001) · Physics Reports · doi:10.1016/s0370-1573(00)00082-x · Cited by 2,611
Breaking the hierarchy of galaxy formation
Bower, R. G., Benson, A., Malbon, R. K., Helly, J. C., Frenk, C. S., Baugh, C. M., Cole, S., & Lacey, C. G. (2006) · Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society · doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2006.10519.x · Cited by 2,463
Self-citationThe Aquarius Project: the subhaloes of galactic haloes
Springel, V., Wang, J., Vogelsberger, M., Ludlow, A. D., Jenkins, A. R., Helmi, A., Navarro, J. F., Frenk, C. S., & White, S. D. M. (2008) · Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society · doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2008.14066.x · Cited by 1,990
Self-citationToo big to fail? The puzzling darkness of massive Milky Way subhaloes
Boylan-Kolchin, M., Bullock, J. S., & Kaplinghat, M. (2011) · Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Letters · doi:10.1111/j.1745-3933.2011.01074.x · Cited by 1,395
Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy
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Research works printed but not linked: 6
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Dark matter self-interactions and small scale structure
Tulin, S., & Yu, H.-B. (2018) · Physics Reports · doi:10.1016/j.physrep.2017.11.004 · Cited by 1,111
The milky way total mass profile as inferred from Gaia DR2
Cautun, M., Benítez-Llambay, A., Deason, A. J., Frenk, C. S., Fattahi, A., Gómez, F. A., Grand, R. J. J., Oman, K. A., Navarro, J. F., & Simpson, C. M. (2020) · Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society · doi:10.1093/mnras/staa1017 · Cited by 332
“While there are many Galactic mass estimates (e.g. see the compilations in Wang et al. 2015; Callingham et al. 2019b), we choose the Callingham et al. result since it has several advantages compared to other studies: i) the method had been thoroughly tested with multiple hydrodynamic simulations,…”
MethodResultSelf-citationThe Milky Way total mass profile as inferred from Gaia DR2
Cautun, M., Benitez-Llambay, A., Deason, A. J., Frenk, C. S., Fattahi, A., Gómez, F. A., Grand, R. J. J., Oman, K. A., Navarro, J. F., & Simpson, C. M. (2019) · arXiv · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1911.04557 · Cited by 335
“While there are many Galactic mass estimates (e.g. see the compilations in Wang et al. 2015; Callingham et al. 2019b), we choose the Callingham et al. result since it has several advantages compared to other studies: i) the method had been thoroughly tested with multiple hydrodynamic simulations,…”
MethodResultSelf-citationVogelsberger, M., Zavala, J., Cyr-Racine, F.-Y., Pfrommer, C., Bringmann, T., & Sigurdson, K. (2016) · Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society · doi:10.1093/mnras/stw1076 · Cited by 257
“1 of Wang et al. 2015).”
Lyman- α constraints on ultralight scalar dark matter: Implications for the early and late universe
Kobayashi, T., Murgia, R., Andrea De Simone, A., Iršič, V., & Viel, M. (2017) · Physical review. D/Physical review. D. · doi:10.1103/physrevd.96.123514 · Cited by 238
Metadata
- Authors
- Wang, W., Han, J., Cooper, A. P., Cole, S., Frenk, C., & Lowing, B.
- Affiliations
- Durham University (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Wang, Wenting
- Venue
- Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2015-08-13
- Volume
- 453
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 377-400
- ISSN
- 0035-8711 (ISSN-L)
- 1365-2966
- OpenAlex
- W1883919649
- Cited by
- 116
- References
- 95
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 10 · 2019: 14 · 2018: 18 · 2017: 19 · 2016: 21 · 2015: 9
- FWCI
- 12.44
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (publishedVersion)
- Durham Research Online (Durham University) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- Durham Research Online (Durham University) (acceptedVersion)
- arXiv (Cornell University) (submittedVersion)
- Durham Research Online (Durham University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- HighWire Press Open Archive (submittedVersion)
- arXiv (Cornell University)
- Funders
- Durham University (ST/K00042X/1, ST/K003267/1, ST/H008519/1)
- Rijksuniversiteit Groningen
- Science and Technology Facilities Council (ST/I00162X/1, ST/H008519, ST/K00042X/1, ST/M007006/1, ST/L00075X/1, ST/H008519/1, ST/K003267/1)
- Leibniz-Gemeinschaft
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Nuclear and High Energy Physics › Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena
- Keywords
- Milky Way dark matter halo, halo mass estimation, stellar halo, Navarro-Frenk-White profile, halo concentration, mass bias, velocity anisotropy, dynamic equilibrium, Aquarius simulations, maximum likelihood fitting
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