MaNGA DynPop. VII. A Unified Bulge-Disk-Halo Model for Explaining Diversity in Circular Velocity Curves of 6000 Spiral and Early-Type Galaxies

TL;DR

The study addresses how the diversity of circular velocity curves (CVCs) across spiral and early-type galaxies encodes the distribution of baryons and dark matter. It uses Jeans anisotropic modeling (JAM) on MaNGA IFU data from ~6000 reliable galaxies to derive CVCs and total mass distributions, including a flexible gNFW dark halo. A unified bulge-disk-halo framework is parameterized by the bulge-to-total ratio $B/T$, the dark matter fraction within $R_e$, and the bulge Sersic index, which together predict CVC shapes (rising, flat, declining). They show that the CVC amplitude scales with the stellar second velocity moment, with $V_{ m circ}^{ m max} \approx 1.72\,σ_e$ and $V_{ m circ}(R_e^{maj}) \approx 1.62\,σ_e$, where $σ_e^2 \equiv \langle V^2+σ^2\rangle$. This demonstrates that CVC morphology is a robust diagnostic of galaxy evolution and mass assembly, providing a direct dynamical window into structural and star-formation histories.

Abstract

We derive circular velocity curves (CVCs) from stellar dynamical models for $\sim6000$ nearby galaxies in the final data release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey-IV MaNGA survey with integral-field spectroscopy, exploring connections between the inner gravitational potential (traced by CVC amplitude/shape) and galaxy properties. The maximum circular velocity ($V_{\rm circ}^{\rm max}$) and circular velocity at the half-light radius ($V_{\rm circ}(R_{\rm e}^{\rm maj})$) both scale linearly with the stellar second velocity moment $σ_{\rm e}^2\equiv\langle V^2+σ^2\rangle$ within the half-light isophote, following $V_{\rm circ}^{\rm max} \approx 1.72σ_{\rm e}$ (7$\%$ error) and $V_{\rm circ}(R_{\rm e}^{\rm maj}) \approx 1.62σ_{\rm e}$ (7$\%$ error). CVC shapes (rising, flat, declining) correlate strongly with structural and stellar population properties: declining curves dominate in massive, early-type, bulge-dominated galaxies with old, metal-rich stars and early quenching, while rising CVCs prevail in disk-dominated systems with younger stellar populations and ongoing star formation. Using a unified bulge-disk-halo model, we predict CVC shapes with minimal bias, identifying three governing parameters: bulge-to-total mass ratio ($B/T$), dark matter fraction within $R_{\rm e}$, and bulge Sersic index. The distribution of CVC shapes across the mass-size plane reflects evolutionary pathways driven by (i) in situ star formation (spurring bulge growth) and (ii) dry mergers. This establishes CVC morphology as a diagnostic for galaxy evolution, linking dynamical signatures to structural and stellar population histories.