paper

The Dynamical Inverse Problem for Axisymmetric Stellar Systems

arXiv:astro-ph/9603160 · doi:10.1086/118080

Abstract

The standard method of modelling axisymmetric stellar systems begins from the assumption that mass follows light. The gravitational potential is then derived from the luminosity distribution, and a unique two-integral distribution function f(E,Lz) that generates the stellar density in this potential is found. We show that the gravitational potential can instead be generated directly from the velocity data in a two-integral galaxy, thus allowing one to drop the assumption that mass follows light. The rotational velocity field can also be recovered in a model-independent way. We present regularized algorithms for carrying out the inversions and test them by application to pseudo-data from a family of oblate models.

23 LATEX pages, 5 Postscript figures, uses AASTEX, epsf.sty. To appear in The Astronomical Journal, Vol. 112, September 1996

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