Abstract
Extensive and meticulous observations of the rotation curves of galaxies show that they are either flat or gently going up, but rarely decreasing, at large galactocentric distances. Here we show that the gravitational potential which would lead to such rotation curves arises naturally when the visible matter modelled as a collisionless Maxwellian gas is embedded in a dark halo of collisionless particles with a much higher dispersion in velocities.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bahcall, J. N., Schmidt, M., Soneira, R. M. 1982,Astrophys. J.,258, L23.
Binney, J. 1982a,Mon. Not. R. astr. Soc.,200, 951.
Binney, J. 1982b,A. Rev. Astr. Astrophys.,20, 399.
Bond, J. R., Efstathiou, G., Silk, J. 1980,Phys. Rev. Lett.,45, 1980.
Boroson, T. 1981,Astrophys. J. Suppl.,46, 177.
Bosma, A. 1978,PhD Thesis, Groningen Univ.
Bosma, A. 1981,Astr. J.,86, 1825.
Burstein, D. 1979,Astrophys. J. Suppl.,41, 435.
Burstein, D., Rubin, V. C., Thonnard, N., Ford, W. K. Jr. 1982,Astrophys. J.,253, 70.
Cabbibo, N., Farrar, G. R., Maiani, L. 1981,Phys. Lett.,105B, 155.
Chandrasekhar, S. 1939,An Introduction to the Study of Stellar Structure, Univ. Chicago Press, p. 156.
Chandrasekhar, S. 1942,Principles of Stellar Dynamics, Dover, pp. 48–85.
Cowsik, R. 1984,TIFR Preprint, TIFR-CRSP-84-16.
Cowsik, R., McClelland, J. 1973,Astrophys. J.,180, 7.
Doroshkevich, A. G.etal. 1980,Ann. NYAcad. Sci.,375, 32.
Einasto, J. 1970,Teated Tartu Obs.,26, 1.
Emden, R. 1907,Gaskugeln, Leipzig, Teubner.
Gott, J. R., Turner, E. L. 1977,Astrophys. J.,213, 309.
Hamabe, M., Kodaira, K., Okamura, S., Takase, B. 1980,Publ. astr. Soc. Japan,32, 197.
Jeans, J. H. 1915,Mon. Not. R. astr. Soc.,76, 71.
Kormendy, J. 1977,Astrophys. J.,217, 406.
Lynden-Bell, D. 1962,Mon. Not. R. astr. Soc.,124, 95.
Ostriker, J. P., Caldwell, J. A. R. 1979, inIAU Symp. 84:The Large-Scale Characteristics of the Galaxy, Ed. W. B. Burton, D. Reidel, Dordrecht, p. 441.
Ostriker, J. P., Peebles, P. J. E. 1973,Astrophys. J.,186, 467.
Pagels, H., Primack, J. R. 1981,Phys. Rev. Lett.,48, 223.
Peebles, P. J. E. 1979, inPhysical Cosmology, Eds R. Balian, J. Audouze & D. N. Schramm, North-Holland, Amsterdam, p. 216.
Rubin, V. C. 1979, in1 AU Symp. 84:The Large-Scale Characteristics of the Galaxy, Ed. W. B. Burton, D. Reidel, Dordrecht, p. 211.
Rubin, V. C. 1983, inKinematics, Dynamics and Structure of the Milky Way, Ed. W. L. Shuter, Reidel, Dordrecht, p. 379.
Rubin, V. C., Ford, W. K. Jr., Thonnard, N. 1980,Astrophys. J.,238, 471.
Rubin, V. C., Ford, W. K. Jr., Thonnard, N. 1982,Astrophys. J.,261, 439.
Sato, H., Takahara, F. 1980,Prog. Theor. Phys.,64, 2029.
Schramm, D. N., Steigman, G. 1981,Astrophys. J.,243, 1.
Seiden, P. E., Schulman, L. S., Elmegreen, B. G. 1984,Astrophys. J.,282, 95.
van der Kruit, P. C. 1979,Astr. Astrophys. Suppl.,38, 15.
van der Kruit, P. C. 1982,Astr. Astrophys.,110, 61.
van der Kruit, P. C., Searle, L. 1981,Astr. Astrophys.,95, 105.
Wasserman, I. 1981,Astrophys. J.,248, 1.
Wevers, B. M. H. R. 1984,PhD Thesis, Groningen Univ.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Cowsik, R., Ghosh, P. Towards a physical model for galactic rotation curves. J Astrophys Astron 7, 17–28 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02715023
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02715023