A Dearth of Dark Matter in Ordinary Elliptical Galaxies

Date

2003

Authors

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

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

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.

Description

Keywords

Keywords: Astrophysics; Computer simulation; Galaxies; Kinematics; Halos; Space research; astronomy; solar system; anisotropy; article; astronomy; gravity; kinematics; light; model; priority journal; theory; velocity

Citation

Source

Science

Type

Journal article

Book Title

Entity type

Access Statement

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Restricted until

2037-12-31