Related papers: Dynamical evidence for black holes and dark halos
We discuss the critical importance of black hole mass indicators based on scaling relations in active galaxies. We highlight outstanding uncertainties in these methods and potential paths to substantial progress in the next decade.
The kinematics of the outer parts of three intermediate-luminosity elliptical galaxies have been studied using the Planetary Nebula Spectrograph. The galaxies' velocity dispersion profiles are found to decline with radius; dynamical…
In the standard cosmological model, the assembly of galaxies is primarily driven by the growth of their host dark matter halos. At the center of these halos, however, baryonic processes take over, leading to the plethora of observed galaxy…
Recent progress in the dynamical analysis of elliptical galaxy kinematics is reviewed. Results reported briefly include (i) the surprisingly uniform anisotropy structure of luminous ellipticals, (ii) their nearly flat (to $\sim 2R_e$)…
We consider the possibility that the dark matter is coupled through its mass to a scalar field associated with the dark energy of the Universe. In order for such a field to play a role at the present cosmological distances, it must be…
Collapsed objects have definitely been observed: some are stellar-mass objects, the endpoint of massive stars; others, millions of times more massive, have been discovered in the cores of most galaxies. Their formation poses some…
In the past years a wealth of observations has unraveled the structural properties of dark and luminous mass distribution in galaxies, a benchmark for understanding dark matter and the process of galaxy formation. The study of the…
Astronomers have discovered two populations of black holes: (i) stellar-mass black holes with masses in the range 5 to 30 solar masses, millions of which are present in each galaxy in the universe, and (ii) supermassive black holes with…
In the past years a wealth of observations allowed to unravel the structural properties of the Dark Matter Halos around spirals. First, their rotation curves follow an Universal profile (URC) that can be described in terms of an exponential…
There is ample evidence from rotation curves that dark matter halos around disk galaxies have nontrivial dynamics. Of particular significance are: a) the cored dark matter profile of disk galaxies, b) correlations of the shape of rotation…
In the past years a wealth of observations has unraveled the structural properties of the Dark and Luminous mass distribution in spirals. These have pointed out to an intriguing scenario not easily explained by present theories of galaxy…
Techniques for inferring the radial and geometric form of dark matter halos and the results they have produced to date are reviewed. Dark halos appear to extend to at least ~50 kpc with total enclosed masses that rise linearly with radius…
We review the most recent evidence for the amazing properties of the density distribution of dark matter around spiral galaxies. Their rotation curves, coadded according to the galaxy luminosity, conform to an universal profile which can be…
Context. The assembly history of the stellar component of a massive elliptical galaxy is closely related to that of its dark matter halo. Measuring how the properties of galaxies correlate with their halo mass can help understand their…
This review discusses the current status of supermassive black hole research, as seen from a purely observational standpoint. Since the early '90s, rapid technological advances, most notably the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the…
The black hole mass function of supermassive black holes describes the evolution of the distribution of black hole mass. It is one of the primary empirical tools available for mapping the growth of supermassive black holes and for…
It was recently suggested that "cosmologically coupled" black holes with masses that increase in proportion to the volume of the Universe might constitute the physical basis of dark energy. We take this claim at face value and discuss its…
The observational evidence for dark matter on progressively larger cosmic scales is reviewed in a rather pedagogical fashion. Although the emphasis is on dark matter in galaxies and in clusters of galaxies, its cosmological evidence as well…
We argue that the stellar velocity dispersion observed in an elliptical galaxy is a good proxy for the halo velocity dispersion. As dark matter halos are almost completely characterized by a single scale parameter, the stellar velocity…
Dark matter is an important ingredient of galaxies, as was recognised early on by Ken Freeman himself! Evidence for dark matter halos is still indirect, based on analysing motions of tracers such as gas and stars. In a sense the visible…