A Dearth of Dark Matter in Ordinary Elliptical Galaxies

Date

Authors

Romanowsky, A J
Douglas, Nigel G
Arnaboldi, Magda
Kuijken, Konrad
Merrifield, M R
Napolitano, Nicola R
Capaccioli, Massimo
Freeman, Kenneth

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Volume Title

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American Association for the Advancement of Science

Abstract

The kinematics of the outer parts of three intermediate-luminosity elliptical galaxies were studied with the Planetary Nebula Spectrograph. The galaxies' velocity-dispersion profiles were found to decline with the radius, and dynamical modeling of the data indicates the presence of little if any dark matter in these galaxies' halos. This unexpected result conflicts with findings in other galaxy types and poses a challenge to current galaxy formation theories.

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Science

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Restricted until

2037-12-31