The Milky Way's Circular Velocity Curve to 60 kpc and an Estimate of the Dark Matter Halo Mass from Kinematics of ~2400 SDSS Blue Horizontal Branch Stars

Abstract

We derive new constraints on the mass of the Milky Way's dark matter halo, based on a set of halo stars from SDSS as kinematic tracers. Our sample comprises 2401 rigorously selected Blue Horizontal-Branch (BHB) halo stars drawn from SDSS DR-6. To interpret these distributions, we compare them to matched mock observations drawn from two different cosmological galaxy formation simulations designed to resemble the Milky Way, which we presume to have an appropriate orbital distribution of halo stars. We then determine which value of ${\mathrm{V}}_{\mathrm{cir}}(\mathrm{r})$ brings the observed distribution into agreement with the corresponding distributions from the simulations. This procedure results in an estimate of the Milky Way's circular velocity curve to $\sim 60$ kpc, which is found to be slightly falling from the adopted value of $220km{\mathrm{s}}^{-1}$ at the Sun's location, and implies M$(<60\mathrm{kpc})=4.0\pm 0.7\times 10^{11}$M${}_{\odot }$. The radial dependence of ${\mathrm{V}}_{\mathrm{cir}}(\mathrm{r})$, derived in statistically independent bins, is found to be consistent with the expectations from an NFW dark matter halo with the established stellar mass components at its center. If we assume an NFW halo profile of characteristic concentration holds, we can use the observations to estimate the virial mass of the Milky Way's dark matter halo, M${}_{\mathrm{vir}}=1.0_{-0.2}^{+0.3}\times 10^{12}$M${}_{\odot }$, which is lower than many previous estimates. This estimate implies that nearly 40% of the baryons within the virial radius of the Milky Way's dark matter halo reside in the stellar components of our Galaxy. A value for M${}_{\mathrm{vir}}$ of only $\sim 1\times 10^{12}$M${}_{\odot }$ also (re-)opens the question of whether all of the Milky Way's satellite galaxies are on bound orbits.

42 pages, 17 figures and 3 table. Accepted by APJ

References in corpus (15)

• The 2.5 m Telescope of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
• The Radial Velocity Experiment (RAVE): first data release
• The RAVE Survey: Constraining the Local Galactic Escape Speed
• Two Stellar Components in the Halo of the Milky Way
• Are the Magellanic Clouds on their First Passage about the Milky Way?
• The SEGUE Stellar Parameter Pipeline. I. Description and Initial Validation Tests
• The accretion origin of the Milky Way's stellar halo
• The SEGUE Stellar Parameter Pipeline. II. Validation with Galactic Globular and Open Clusters
• Towards a Concordant Model of Halo Occupation Statistics
• A Revised Model for the Formation of Disk Galaxies: Low Spin and Dark-Halo Expansion
• Is the SMC Bound to the LMC? The HST Proper Motion of the SMC
• The SEGUE Stellar Parameter Pipeline. III. Comparison with High-Resolution Spectroscopy of SDSS/SEGUE Field Stars
• The velocity dispersion and mass profile of the Milky Way
• Evidence for Distinct Components of the Galactic Stellar Halo from 838 RR Lyrae Stars Discovered in the LONEOS-I Survey
• Dark Matter Halos of Disk Galaxies: Constraints from the Tully-Fisher Relation

Cited by in corpus (197)

• galpy: A Python Library for Galactic Dynamics
• The mass distribution and gravitational potential of the Milky Way
• The Transiting Circumbinary Planets Kepler-34 and Kepler-35
• The Milky Way's circular velocity curve between 4 and 14 kpc from APOGEE data
• On the local dark matter density
• A High Stellar Velocity Dispersion and ~100 Globular Clusters for the Ultra Diffuse Galaxy Dragonfly 44
• "Skinny Milky Way, Please", says Sagittarius
• On the Shoulders of Giants: Properties of the Stellar Halo and the Milky Way Mass Distribution
• Think Outside the Color Box: Probabilistic Target Selection and the SDSS-XDQSO Quasar Targeting Catalog
• Do Hot Haloes Around Galaxies Contain the Missing Baryons?
• Observational Evidence for Primordial Black Holes: A Positivist Perspective
• Globular Cluster Streams as Galactic High-Precision Scales - The Poster Child Palomar 5
• The velocity function in the local environment from LCDM and LWDM constrained simulations
• Kinematics of the stellar halo and the mass distribution of the Milky Way using BHB stars
• Galactic masers and the Milky Way circular velocity
• The shape of the inner Milky Way halo from observations of the Pal 5 and GD-1 stellar streams
• The abundance of (not just) dark matter haloes
• The Mass Profile of the Galaxy to 80 kpc
• Using the Milky Way satellites to study interactions between cold dark matter and radiation
• Fitting the Gamma-Ray Spectrum from Dark Matter with DMFIT: GLAST and the Galactic Center Region
• The PN.S Elliptical Galaxy Survey: the dark matter in NGC 4494
• The Dark Matter at the End of the Galaxy
• A dynamical model of the local cosmic expansion
• The Best and Brightest Metal-Poor Stars
• Dissecting Galaxy Formation: I. Comparison Between Pure Dark Matter and Baryonic Models
• Galaxy Groups
• Detection of the Milky Way reflex motion due to the Large Magellanic Cloud infall
• An Alternative Origin for Hypervelocity Stars
• Halo-to-Halo Similarity and Scatter in the Velocity Distribution of Dark Matter
• Complementarity of Dark Matter Direct Detection Targets
• Dynamics of the Magellanic Clouds in a LCDM Universe
• Detection of the LMC-induced sloshing of the Galactic halo
• Milky Way potentials in CDM and MOND. Is the Large Magellanic Cloud on a bound orbit?
• Elemental Abundances in Milky Way-like Galaxies from a Hierarchical Galaxy Formation Model
• Updated cosmic-ray and radio constraints on light dark matter: Implications for the GeV gamma-ray excess at the Galactic center
• Dark matters on the scale of galaxies
• A Low-Mass Stellar-Debris Stream Associated with a Globular Cluster Pair in the Halo
• Stellar labels for hot stars from low-resolution spectra - I. the HotPayne method and results for 330,000 stars from LAMOST DR6
• Touching The Void: A Striking Drop in Stellar Halo Density Beyond 50 kpc
• Primordial Black Holes
• Searching for dark matter in X-rays: how not to check the dark matter origin of a spectral feature
• The Circular Velocity Curve of the Milky Way from 5 to 25 kpc using luminous red giant branch star
• Warm dust in high-z galaxies: origin and implications
• Properties of HI discs in the Auriga cosmological simulations
• Galactic Archaeology with Gaia
• Milky Way mass constraints from the Galactic satellite gap
• Balancing mass and momentum in the Local Group
• Prospects for Annihilating Dark Matter in the inner Galactic halo by the Cherenkov Telescope Array
• Handling the Uncertainties in the Galactic Dark Matter Distribution for Particle Dark Matter Searches
• Baryonic and dark matter distribution in cosmological simulations of spiral galaxies
• Mapping the Milky Way Disk with Gaia DR3: 3D extended kinematic maps and rotation curve to $\approx 30$ kpc
• Predicted Extension of the Sagittarius Stream to the Milky Way Virial Radius
• Indirect Dark Matter Detection Limits from the Ultra-Faint Milky Way Satellite Segue 1
• Prospects for chemically tagging stars in the Galaxy
• Predicted Space Motions for Hypervelocity and Runaway Stars: Proper Motions and Radial Velocities for the GAIA Era
• A discrete chemo-dynamical model of the dwarf spheroidal galaxy Sculptor: mass profile, velocity anisotropy and internal rotation
• The Anisotropic Spatial Distribution of Hypervelocity Stars
• Bayesian Mass Estimates of the Milky Way II: The dark and light sides of parameter assumptions
• The Nature of the Hyper-Runaway Candidate HIP 60350
• A Council of Giants
• A new look at microlensing limits on dark matter in the Galactic halo
• Constraints on the assembly history of the Milky Way's smooth, diffuse stellar halo from the metallicity-dependent, radially-dominated velocity anisotropy profiles probed with K giants and BHB stars using LAMOST, SDSS/SEGUE, and Gaia
• TriAnd and its Siblings: Satellites of Satellites in the Milky Way Halo
• The Milky Way Tomography with SDSS. V. Mapping the Dark Matter Halo
• The Effect of Orbital Eccentricity on the Dynamical Evolution of Star Clusters
• Purveyors of fine halos: Re-assessing globular cluster contributions to the Milky Way halo build-up with SDSS-IV
• Diffuse gas properties and stellar metallicities in cosmological simulations of disc galaxy formation
• The Mass of the Milky Way from the H3 Survey
• Chemo-dynamical evolution of tidal dwarf galaxies. II. The long-term evolution and influence of a tidal field
• Dark-matter decays and Milky Way satellite galaxies
• Testing the role of environmental effects on the initial mass function of low-mass stars
• 591 high velocity stars in the Galactic halo selected from LAMOST DR7 and Gaia DR2
• Taming astrophysical bias in direct dark matter searches
• A Genetic Approach to the History of the Magellanic Clouds
• Dynamical evidence for a strong tidal interaction between the Milky Way and its satellite, Leo V
• Satellite dwarf galaxies: Stripped but not quenched
• Milky Way Mass with K Giants and BHB Stars Using LAMOST, SDSS/SEGUE, and Gaia: 3D Spherical Jeans Equation and Tracer Mass Estimator
• Probing the galactic halo with RR Lyrae stars I: The catalog
• Subhalo statistics of galactic halos: beyond the resolution limit
• The Effects of Orbital Inclination on the Scale Size and Evolution of Tidally Filling Star Clusters
• On the common mass scale of the Milky Way satellites
• Tracing Kinematic and Chemical Properties of Sagittarius Stream by K-Giants, M-Giants, and BHB stars
• Populating the Galaxy with pulsars -- II. Galactic dynamics
• The case for primordial black holes as dark matter
• Closing in on mass-degenerate dark matter scenarios with antiprotons and direct detection
• Low-mass suppression of the satellite luminosity function due to the supersonic baryon--cold-dark-matter relative velocity
• A dynamical gravitational wave source in a dense cluster
• Global Properties of M31's Stellar Halo from the SPLASH Survey: III. Measuring the Stellar Velocity Dispersion Profile
• The Outer Halo of the Milky Way as Probed by RR Lyr Variables from the Palomar Transient Facility
• The Gaia spectrophotometric standard stars survey - III. Short-term variability monitoring
• The dark matter profile of the Milky Way: a non-parametric reconstruction
• Constraining the mass of the Local Group
• Determination of the escape velocity of the Milky Way using a proper motion selected halo sample
• On the Link Between Energy Equipartition and Radial Variation in the Stellar Mass Function of Star Clusters
• The Size of Star Clusters Accreted by the Milky Way
• The sdA problem I: Physical Properties
• The Frequency of Field Blue-Straggler Stars in the Thick Disk and Halo System of the Galaxy
• RR Lyrae in XSTPS: The halo density profile in the North Galactic Cap
• Is NGC 5824 the Core of the Progenitor of the Cetus Stream?
• The twisted dark matter halo of the Milky Way
• $\text{galkin}$: a new compilation of the Milky Way rotation curve data
• The Milky Way's circular velocity curve and its constraint on the Galactic mass with RR Lyrae stars
• The Pristine survey -- VII. A cleaner view of the Galactic outer halo using blue horizontal branch stars
• Identification of Sagittarius stream members in Angular Momentum space with Gaussian mixture techniques
• To the Galactic Virial Radius with Hyper Suprime-Cam
• Substructure at High Speed II: The Local Escape Velocity and Milky Way Mass with Gaia DR2
• Radial Variation in the Stellar Mass Functions of Star Clusters
• Clustering of Local Group distances: publication bias or correlated measurements? V. Galactic rotation constants
• The phantom dark matter halos of the Local Volume in the context of modified Newtonian dynamics
• Determination of Dark Matter Halo Mass from Dynamics of Satellite Galaxies
• The effect of tides on the Sculptor dwarf spheroidal galaxy
• The Cetus-Palca stream: A disrupted small dwarf galaxy. A prequel to the science possible with WEAVE with precise spectro-photometric distances
• Contribution of Gaia Sausage to the Galactic Stellar Halo Revealed by K Giants and Blue Horizontal Branch Stars from the Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope, Sloan Digital Sky Survey, and Gaia
• Characterizing the Galactic warp with Gaia: I. The tilted ring model with a twist
• Systematic uncertainties from halo asphericity in dark matter searches
• Galactic googly: the rotation-metallicity bias in the inner stellar halo of the Milky Way
• A dynamics-free lower bound on the mass of our galaxy
• The Far-Away Blues: Exploring the Furthest Extents of the Boötes I Ultra Faint Dwarf Galaxy
• Updated detection prospects for relic neutrinos using coherent scattering
• Modelling the Observed Stellar Mass Function and its Radial Variation in Galactic Globular Clusters
• Clean catalogues of blue horizontal-branch stars using Gaia EDR3
• A LAMOST BHB Catalog and Kinematics Therein I: Catalog and Halo Properties
• On the origins of extreme velocity stars as revealed by large-scale Galactic surveys
• The diversity of assembly histories leading to disc galaxy formation in a LambdaCDM model
• Exploring the interaction between the MW and LMC with a large sample of blue horizontal branch stars from the DESI survey
• The QuaStar Survey: Detecting Hidden Low-Velocity Gas in the Milky Way's Circumgalactic Medium
• Constraints on the Galactic Inner Halo Assembly History from the Age Gradient of Blue Horizontal-branch Stars
• Revisiting perfect fluid dark matter: Observational constraints from our galaxy
• Initial phases of high-mass star formation: A multiwavelength study towards the extended green object G12.42+0.50
• The structure and kinematics of the the Galaxy thin gaseous disc outside the solar orbit
• Pulsating White Dwarfs
• Fast Molecular Cloud Destruction Requires Fast Cloud Formation
• The Milky Way, Coming into Focus: Precision Astrometry Probes its Evolution, and its Dark Matter
• The prolate dark matter halo of the Andromeda galaxy
• Constructing the Milky Way Stellar Halo in the Galactic Center by Direct Orbit Integration
• Searching for Hot Subdwarf Stars in LAMOST DR1-II. Pure spectroscopic identification method for hot subdwarfs
• Life and death of a hero - Lessons learned from modeling the dwarf spheroidal Hercules: an incorrect orbit?
• The outermost edges of the Milky Way halo from galaxy kinematics
• The Spectacular Tidal Tails of Globular Cluster M3 (NGC 5272)
• The SDSS-Gaia View of the Color-Magnitude Relation for Blue Horizontal-branch Stars
• An X-ray and SZ bright diffuse source toward M31: a Local Hot Bridge
• Local Group Analogs in $\Lambda$CDM cosmological simulations
• Torus Models of the Outer Disc of the Milky Way using LAMOST Survey Data
• Impact of stellar population synthesis choices on forward modelling-based redshift distribution estimates
• Testing the star formation scaling relations in the clumps of the North American and Pelican cloud complexes
• Testing anthropic reasoning for the cosmological constant with a realistic galaxy formation model
• The Reduced Proper Motion selected halo: methods and description of the catalogue
• Differential rotation of the halo traced by the K-giant stars
• X-ray Clusters of Galaxies as Cosmological Tools
• Jeans that fit: weighing the mass of the Milky Way analogues in the $\Lambda \mathrm{CDM}$ universe
• A Cold Stellar Stream in Pegasus
• Non-Parametric Spherical Jeans Mass Estimation with B-splines
• Testing Modified Gravity theory (MOG) with Type Ia Supernovae, Cosmic Chronometers and Baryon Acoustic Oscillations
• A Catalog of Distance Determinations for the LAMOST DR8 K Giants in the Galactic Halo
• 3-D kinematics of classical Cepheids according to Gaia, EDR3 catalog
• Proper motion measurements for stars up to $100$ kpc with Subaru HSC and SDSS Stripe 82
• The First Distance Constraint on the Renegade High Velocity Cloud Complex WD
• Constraining the Milky Way Mass with Its Hot Gaseous Halo
• Calibrating the BHB Star Distance Scale and the Halo Kinematic Distance to the Galactic Centre
• Equilibrium axisymmetric halo model for the Milky Way and its implications for direct and indirect DM searches
• Probing the shape of the Milky Way dark matter halo with hypervelocity stars: a new method
• Conservative constraints on the effective theory of dark matter-nucleon interactions from IceCube: the impact of operator interference
• Influence of the Galactic gravitational field on the positional accuracy of extragalactic sources
• On the origin of the asymmetric dwarf galaxy distribution around Andromeda
• A Pristine-UNIONS view on the Galaxy: Kinematics of the distant spur feature of the Sagittarius stream traced by Blue Horizontal Branch stars
• Probing modified Newtonian dynamics with hypervelocity stars
• Cosmic ray backgrounds for dark matter indirect detection
• Observational constraint on axion dark matter in a realistic halo profile with gravitational waves
• Galactic Sun's motion in the Cold Dark Matter, MOdified Newtonian Dynamics and MOdified Gravity scenarios
• A critical analysis of the recent OGLE limits on stellar mass primordial black holes in the halo of the Milky Way
• Possible evidence of hydrogen emission in the first-overtone and multi-mode RR Lyrae variables
• The binary fraction of Blue Horizontal-Branch (BHB) Stars
• A uniform treatment of the orbital effects due to a violation of the Strong Equivalence Principle in the gravitational Stark-like limit
• The Effects of $\Lambda$CDM Dark Matter Substructure on the Orbital Evolution of Star Clusters
• Confronting cosmic ray electron and positron excesses with hybrid triplet Higgs portal dark matter
• Dark matter signals at the LHC: forecasts from ton-scale direct detection experiments
• Dark Star Clusters or Ultra-Faint Dwarf galaxies? Revisiting UMa3/U1
• Dark from light (DfL): Inferring halo properties from luminous tracers with machine learning trained on cosmological simulations. I. Method, proof of concept & preliminary testing
• The CRESST-II Experiment
• Origin of High Dark Remnant Fractions in Milky Way Globular Clusters: The Crucial Role of Initial Black Hole Retention
• A Hint of Three-section Halo as Seen from the APOGEE DR14
• Uncover 3D Dark Matter Distribution of the Milky Way by an Empirical Triaxial Orbit-Superposition Model: Method Validation
• Machine Learning the Dark Matter Halo Mass of Milky Way-Like Systems
• Electroweak Dark Matter
• Effect of dynamical interactions on integrated properties of globular clusters
• Blueshifted hydrogen emission and shock wave of RR Lyrae variables in SDSS and LAMOST
• A Kepler K2 view of subdwarf A-type stars
• DELVE-ing into the Milky Way's Globular Clusters: Assessing extra-tidal features in NGC 5897, NGC 7492, and testing detectability with deeper photometry
• Quantifying the Milky Way, LMC and their interaction using all-sky kinematics of outer halo stars
• The origin of B-type runaway stars based on kinematics
• Timing Mass of the Local Group
• The Escape of Globular Clusters from the Satellite Dwarf Galaxies of the Milky Way
• Dark Matter Phenomenology: Sterile Neutrino Portal and Gravitational Portal in Extra-Dimensions
• Toward a Zero-Parameter Model for Galaxy Rotation Curve Data
• Dynamical Models of the Milky Way in Action Space with LAMOST DR8 and GAIA EDR3
• A hybrid SLAM-Payne framework for atmospheric parameter and abundance determination of early-type Stars from LAMOST DR9 low-resolution Spectra
• Dynamical double black holes and their host cluster properties