The Small Scatter of the Baryonic Tully–fisher Relation

Dec 14, 2015
6 pages
Published in:
  • Astrophys.J.Lett. 816 (2016) 1, L14
  • Published: Dec 31, 2015
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Abstract: (IOP)
In a Λ cold dark matter (ΛCDM) cosmology, the baryonic Tully–Fisher relation (BTFR) is expected to show significant intrinsic scatter resulting from the mass–concentration relation of dark matter halos and the baryonic-to-halo mass ratio. We study the BTFR using a sample of 118 disk galaxies (spirals and irregulars) with data of the highest quality: extended HI{\rm{H}}\,{\rm{I}} rotation curves (tracing the outer velocity) and Spitzer photometry at 3.6 μm (tracing the stellar mass). Assuming that the stellar mass-to-light ratio (Υ{{\rm{\Upsilon }}}_{*}) is nearly constant at 3.6 μm, we find that the scatter, slope, and normalization of the BTFR systematically vary with the adopted Υ{{\rm{\Upsilon }}}_{*}. The observed scatter is minimized for Υ0.5{{\rm{\Upsilon }}}_{*}\gtrsim 0.5 M/L{M}_{\odot }/{L}_{\odot }, corresponding to nearly maximal disks in high-surface-brightness galaxies and BTFR slopes close to ∼4. For any reasonable value of Υ{{\rm{\Upsilon }}}_{*}, the intrinsic scatter is ∼0.1 dex, below general ΛCDM expectations. The residuals show no correlations with galaxy structural parameters (radius or surface brightness), contrary to the predictions from some semi-analytic models of galaxy formation. These are fundamental issues for ΛCDM cosmology.
Note:
  • 6 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in ApJL
  • dark matter
  • galaxies: evolution
  • galaxies: formation
  • galaxies: irregular
  • galaxies: kinematics and dynamics
  • galaxies: spiral