1997/08/01 by Chris Mihos, J. Christopher Mihos, Mihos, Chris +4
Physics and Astronomy · #Adaptive optics and wavefront sensing #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Astrophysics (astro-ph) #FOS: Physical sciences #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.astro-ph/9708009
24 pages Latex using AASTex macros, accepted for ApJ
arxiv created 1997/08/01 · openalex publication_date 1997/08/01 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We examine the effect of different dark matter halo potentials on the\nmorphology and kinematics of tidals tails in a merger model of NGC 7252. We\nfind that models of merging galaxies with low halo masses of Mh = 4-8\nMdisk+bulge (Mdb) can fit the observed morphology and kinematics of the NGC\n7252 tails while galaxies with high mass halos (Mh = 16-32 Mdb) fail in this\nrespect. In high mass models, the deep potential only allows weakly bound disk\nmaterial (stars or gas) at R > 5 disk scale lengths to be ejected in tidal\ntails which tend to fall back onto the parent galaxies before the final merger.\nGalaxies with massive, low density halos are somewhat more successful at\nejecting tidal debris during mergers, but still have difficulties recreating\nthe thin, gas-rich tails observed in NGC 7252. Our models suggest upper limits\nfor the dark halo masses in the NGC 7252 progenitor galaxies of roughly Mh <=\n10 Mdb. We note, however, that our calculations have focused on the rather\nidealized case of the isolated merging of galaxies with distinct dark matter\nhalos; calculations which employ more realistic (cosmological) initial\nconditions are needed to fully explore the use of tidal tails in constraining\ndark matter in galaxies.\n