Rotation curves of luminous spiral galaxies

Abstract

We have investigated the stellar light distribution and the rotation curves of high-luminosity spiral galaxies in the local Universe. The sample contains 30 high-quality extended H alpha and HI rotation curves. The stellar disk scale-length of these objects was measured or taken from the literature. We find that in the outermost parts of the stellar disks of these massive objects, the rotation curves agree with the Universal Rotation Curve (Salucci et al. 2007), however a few rotation curves of the sample show a divergence.

9 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in AN. An innovative review on the issue of Dark Matter in Galaxies can be downloaded at http://www.sissa.it/ap/dmg/dmaw_presentation.html