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The Dynamical Inverse Problem for Axisymmetric Stellar Systems

David Merritt
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Abstract

The standard method of modelling axisymmetric stellar systems begins from the assumption that mass follows light. The gravitational potential is then derived from the luminosity distribution, and a unique two-integral distribution function f(E,Lz) that generates the stellar density in this potential is found. We show that the gravitational potential can instead be generated directly from the velocity data in a two-integral galaxy, thus allowing one to drop the assumption that mass follows light. The rotational velocity field can also be recovered in a model-independent way. We present regularized algorithms for carrying out the inversions and test them by application to pseudo-data from a family of oblate models.

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David Merritt. 1996-06-05. The Dynamical Inverse Problem for Axisymmetric Stellar Systems. https://doi.org/10.1086/118080

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