High-resolution rotation curves of LSB galaxies: Mass Models

Abstract

We present mass models for a sample of 30 high-resolution rotation curves of low surface brightness (LSB) galaxies. We fit both pseudo-isothermal (core-dominated) and Cold Dark Matter (CDM) (cusp-dominated) halos for a wide variety of assumptions about the stellar mass-to-light ratio. We find that the pseudo-isothermal model provides superior fits. CDM fits show systematic deviations from the data, and often have a small statistical likelihood of being the appropriate model. The distribution of concentration parameters is too broad, and has too low a mean, to be explained by $Λ$CDM. This failing becomes more severe as increasing allowance is made for stellar mass: NFW fits require uncomfortably low mass-to-light ratios. In contrast, the maximum disk procedure does often succeed in predicting the inner shape of the rotation curves, but requires uncomfortably large stellar mass-to- light ratios. The data do admit reasonable stellar population mass-to-light ratios if halos have cores rather than cusps.

Accepted for publication in AJ. Full-resolution figures available at http://www.atnf.csiro.au/~edeblok/papers/deblok.ps.gz . Electronic data available at Journal or http://www.atnf.csiro.au/~edeblok/data or http://www.astro.umd.edu/~ssm/data