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Title

A new method for estimating dark matter halo masses using globular cluster systems

Author(s)

Spitler, L. R.;  Forbes, Duncan A.

Abstract

All galaxies are thought to reside within large haloes of dark matter, whose properties can only be determined from indirect observations. The formation and assembly of galaxies is determined from the interplay between these dark matter haloes and the baryonic matter they host. Although statistical relations can be used to approximate how massive a galaxy’s halo is, very few individual galaxies have direct measurements of their halo masses. We present a method to directly estimate the total mass of a galaxy’s dark halo using its system of globular clusters. The link between globular cluster systems and halo masses is independent of a galaxy’s type and environment, in contrast to the relationship between galaxy halo and stellar masses. This trend is expected in models where globular clusters form in early, rare density peaks in the cold dark matter density field and the epoch of reionization was roughly coeval throughout the Universe.We illustrate the general utility of this relation by demonstrating that a galaxy’s supermassive black hole mass and global X-ray luminosity are directly proportional to their host dark halo masses, as inferred from our new method.

Publication type

Journal article

Research centre

Swinburne University of Technology. Faculty of Information and Communication Technologies. Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing

Source

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters, Vol. 392, no. 1 (Jan 2009), pp. L1-L5

Publication year

2009

FOR Code(s)

0201 Astronomical and Space Sciences

Keyword(s)

Fundamental parameters;  Galaxies;  Haloes;  Star clusters;  Stellar content

Publisher

Wiley-Blackwell

ISSN

1745-3925

Publisher URL

http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-3933.2008.00567.x

Copyright

Copyright © 2008 The Authors. Journal compilation copyright © 2008 Royal Astronomical Society. The accepted manuscript of the paper is reproduced here in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher. The definitive version is available at www.interscience.wiley.com.

Full text

Peer reviewed