Maximum Disk Mass Models for Spiral Galaxies

Abstract

We present axisymmetric maximum disk mass models for a sample of 74 spiral galaxies taken from the southern sky Fabry-Perot Tully-Fisher survey (Schommer et al. 1993). The sample contains galaxies spanning a large range of morphologies and having rotation widths from 180 km/sec to 680 km/secs. For each galaxy we have an I-band image and a 2-d H_alpha velocity field. The distribution of mass is modeled as a sum of disk and bulge components with distinct, constant mass-to-light ratios. No dark matter halo is included in the fits. The models reproduce the overall structure of the rotation curves in the majority of galaxies, providing good fits to galaxies which exhibit pronounced structural differences in their surface brightness profiles. 75% of galaxies for which the rotation curve is measured to R_23.5 or beyond are well fit by a mass-traces-light model for the entire region within R_23.5. The models for about 20% of the galaxies do not fit well; the failure of most of these models is traced directly to non-axisymmetric structures, primarily bars but also strong spiral arms. The median I-band M/L of the disk plus bulge is 2.4+/-0.9 h_75 in solar units, consistent with normal stellar populations. These results require either that the mass of dark matter within the optical disk of spiral galaxies is small, or that its distribution is very precisely coupled to the distribution of luminous matter.