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Galactic Rotation
• See SG 2.3, BM ch 3 B&T ch 2.6,2.7 B&T fig 1.3
and ch 6
• Coordinate system: define velocity
vector by π,θ,z
π radial velocity wrt galactic center
θ motion tangential to GC with
positive values in direct of galactic
rotation
z motion perpendicular to the plane,
positive values toward North If the galaxy is axisymmetric
galactic pole and in steady state then each pt
• origin is the galactic center (center or in the plane has a velocity
mass/rotation)
corresponding to a circular
• Local standard of rest (BM pg 536)
velocity around center of mass
• velocity of a test particle moving in
of MW
the plane of the MW on a closed orbit
that passes thru the present position of (π,θ,z)LSR=(0,θ0,0) with
the sun θ0 =θ0(R) 2
 Coordinate Systems
The stellar velocity vectors are
z:velocity component perpendicular
to plane
z
θ: motion tangential to GC with
positive velocity in the direction
of rotation
π: radial velocity wrt to GC GC b
π
With respect to galactic coordinates l
+π= (l=180,b=0)
+θ= (l=30,b=0)
+z= (b=90)
θ

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Local standard of rest: assume
MW is axisymmetric and in
steady state

If this each true each point in the

pane has a 'model' velocity
corresponding to the circular
velocity around of the center of
mass.
An imaginery point moving with
that velocity at the position of
the sun is defined to be the LSR
(π,θ,z)LSR=(0,θ0,0);whereθ0 =
θ0(R0)

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 Description of Galactic Rotation (S&G 2.3)
• For circular motion: relative angles
and velocities observing a distant point
• T is the tangent point
Vr=R0sinl(V/R-V0/R0) Vr
Because V/R drops with R (rotation curve
is ~flat); for value 0<l<90 or
270<l<360 reaches a maximum at T
So the process is to find Vr max for each l
and deduce V(R) =Vr+R0sinl

For R>R0 : rotation curve from HI or CO

is degenerate ; use masers, young stars
with known distances

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 Galactic Rotation- S+G sec 2.3, B&T sec 3.2
• Consider a star in the midplane of the
Galactic disk with Galactic longitude,
l, at a distance d, from the Sun.
Assume circular orbits radii of R and
R0 from the galactic center and
rotational velocities of V and , V0

• The 2 components of velocity- radial

and transverse are then for circular
motion
• Vobservered, radial=V0(cos α)-V0sin(l)
• Vobservered ,tang=V0(sinα)-V0 cos(l)
• using the law of sines
• sin l/R=sin(90+α)/R0=cosα/R0
sinl/R~ cosα/R0

wikipedia
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 Galactic Rotation
• Then using a bit of trig
R(cos α)= R0sin(l)
R(sin α)= R0cos(l)-d
so
Vr=R0sinl(V/R-V0/R0)
and defining ω=V/R (rotation rate)

Vobservered,radial=(ω- ω0) R0sin(l)

Similarly
Vobservered,tang=Vsinα-V0cosl
but since Rsinα=R0cosl-d ω
Vobservered,tang=V/R(R0cosl-d)-V0cosl
then
Vobservered,tang=(ω- ω0) R0cos(l)-ωd

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• Then using a bit of trig
R(cos α)= R0sin(l) Galactic Rotation
R(sin α)= R0cos(l)-d
so
Vobservered,radial=(ω- ω0) R0sin(l)
Vobservered,tang=(ω- ω0) R0cos(l)-ωd

then following for small distances from the

sun expand (ω- ω0) around R0 and using
the fact that most of the velocities are
local e.g. R-R0 is small and d is smaller
than R or R0 (not TRUE for HI) and
some more trig
get
Vobservered,radial=Adsin(2l);Vobs,tang=Adcos(2l)+Bd ω
Where
A=-1/2 R0dω/dr at R0
B=-1/2 R0dω/dr -ω
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 Galactic Rotation Curve- sec 2.3.1 S+G
Assume gas/star has
a perfectly circular orbit

At a radius R0 orbit with

velocity V0 ; another
star/parcel of gas at radius
R has a orbital speed V(R)
1)
since the angular speed
V/R drops with radius 2)
V(R) is positive for nearby
objects with galactic
longitude l <l<90 etc etc •Convert to angular velocity ω
(pg 91 bottom) •Vobservered,radial=ωR(cos α)- ω0R0sin(l)
•Vobservered,tang=ωR(sin α)- ω0R0cos(l)
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 In terms of Angular Velocity
• model Galactic motion as circular motion with
monotonically decreasing angular rate with distance
from center.
• Simplest physics:if the mass of the Galaxy is all at
center angular velocity ω at R is ω=M 1/2G1/2R-3/2
• If looking through the Galaxy at an angle lfrom the
center, velocity at radius R projected along the line of
site minus the velocity of the sun projected on the
same line is
• V = ω R sin d - ωoRo sin l
• ω = angular velocity at distance R
ωo = angular velocity at a distance Ro
Ro = distance to the Galactic center
l = Galactic longitude
[Link]
• Using trigonometric identity sin d =Ro sin l /R
undergrad/srt/SRT
and substituting into equation (1) Projects/[Link]
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• V = (ω - w ωo) Ro sinl
• The tangential velocity vT= Vosinα-Vocos l
• and Rsinα =Rocosl-d
Continued
• a little algebra then gives
• VT= V/R(Rocosl-d)-Vocos l
• re-writing this in terms of angular velocity
• VT= ( ω-ωo)Rocosl-ωd

• For a reasonable galactic mass distribution

we expect that the angular speed ω=V/R is
monotonically decreasing at large R (most
galaxies have flat rotation curves (const V)
at large R) then get a set of radial velocities
as a function of where you are in the galaxy
• VT is positive for 0<l<90 and nearby objects-
if R>R0 it is negative
• For 90<l<180 VT is always negative
• For 180<l<270 VT is always positive (S+G
sec 2.3.1)
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 2 1 receding

approaching
4 3
GC

(1) 0<l<90
(2) 90<l<180
(3) 180<l<270 tangent point
where α=0
(4) 270<l<360
tangent point
Veilleux 2010 where α=0

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 Oort Constants
• Derivation:
• for objects near to sun, use a Taylor series d
expansion of ω-ωo dcosl
ω-ωo=dω/dR (R-Ro) Ro
ω=V/R; dω/dR =d/dr(V/R)=(1/R)dV/dr-V/R2 R

then to first order Vr =(ω-ωo)Rosinl=[dV/dr-

V/R](R-Ro) sinl ; when d<<Ro
R-Ro=dcosl which gives
Vr =(Vo/Ro-dV/dr)d sinl cosl
using trig identity sinlcosl= 1/2sin2l GC
one gets the Oort forumla
Vr =Adsin2l where

One can do the same sort of thing for VT 13

 Oort Constants
• For nearby objects ( d<<R) then (l is
the galactic longitude)
– V(R)~R0sin l (d(V/R)/dr)(R-R0)
~dsin(2l)[-R/2(d(V/R)/dr)~ dAsin(2l)

• A is one of 'Oorts constants'

• The other (pg 93 S+G) is related to the
tangential velocity of a object near the
sun Vt=d[Acos(2l)+B]
• So, stars at the same distance r will A=-1/2[Rdω/dr]
show a systematic pattern in the
magnitude of their radial velocities Useful since if know A get
across the sky with Galactic longitude.
kinematic estimate of d
• A is the Oort constant describing the
shearing motion and B describes the
rotation of the Galaxy Radial velocity vr~2AR0(1-sinl)
• A=14.8km/s/kpc only valid near l~90 measure
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• B=-12.4 km/s/kpc AR0~115km/s
 Oort 'B'
• B measures 'vorticity' B=-(ω+=-1/2[Rdω/dr])=-1/2(V/R+dV/dR)
ω=A-B=V/R; angular speed of Local standard of rest (sun's motion)

Oort constants are local description of differential rotation

Vaues
A=14.8 km/s/kpc
B=-12.4
Velocity of sun V0=R0(A-B)

I will not cover epicycles: stars not on perfect circular orbits:see sec 3.2.3
in B&T
important point σ2y/σ2x= -B/A-B

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 Best Estimate of Oort's Constants
• V0=R0(A-B)=218+/-8 (R0/8kpc)
• using Hipparchos proper motions of
nearby stars

• Can also use the proper motion of

SgrA* (assumed to be the center of
mass of the MW)

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 Best Estimate of Oort's Constants
• V0=R0(A-B)=218+/-8 (R0/8kpc)
• using Hipparchos proper motions of
nearby stars

• Can also use the proper motion of

SgrA* (assumed to be the center of
mass of the MW)

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 Rotation Curve
• For R<R0 The inner rotation curve is
measured by the terminal (tangential)-
velocity method applied to radio line
observations such as the HI and CO
lines.

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 Bovy and Tremaine continued- modern example of
using Jeans and Poisson eq
• The radial Jeans equation for the disk is

• FR(R, Z) = ∂Φ(R, Z)/∂R= (1/ν) (∂ (νσ2U )/∂R)+(1/ν) (∂ (νσ2UW )/∂z)+(σ2U -σ2v -V2 )/R
• where Φ is the gravitational potential, ν is the tracer-density profile, σ2U and σ2v
are the radial and azimuthal velocity dispersions squared, σ2UW is the off-diagonal
radial–vertical entry of the dispersion-squared matrix, and ¯ V is the mean azimuthal
velocity;
• all of these quantities are functions of R and Z.

• The mean azimuthal velocity of a population of stars differs from the circular
velocity due to the asymmetric drift. This offset arises because both the density of
stars and the velocity dispersion typically decline with radius. This means that
more stars with guiding centers at R < R0 are passing through the solar
neighborhood than stars with guiding centers R > R0; the former are on the outer
parts of their orbits, where their azimuthal velocity is less than the circular velocity

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 Distances From Motions
• measure the proper motion+parallax of
SgrA* caused by the velocity of the sun
• East in blue, north in green -right panel has
proper motion removed. left panel motion on
sky (Reid et al 2009)
• However they find R0 = 8.4 ± 0.6 kpc
and a circular rotation speed Θ0 = 254 ± 16 km/s.. oops

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 Peculiar Velocities
• Peculiar motion vectors of high mass
star forming regions projected on the
Galactic plane after transforming to a
reference frame rotating with
• the Galaxy.
• A 10 km/s motion scale is in the lower
left.
• High mass star forming regions rotate
slower than galactic model indicates
(Reid et al 2010)

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 HI Observables
• Observed intensity TB(l, b, v) observed in Galactic coordinates longitude l and
latitude b need to be converted into volume densities n(R, z) (Burton & te Lintel
Hekkert 1986, Diplas & Savage 1991).
• Assuming that most of the gas follows an axisymmetric circular rotation yields a
relation for the differential rotation velocity (e.g., Burton1988)
v(R, z)=[(R/R) Θ(R, z)-Θ]sinl -cos b where v is the radial velocity along a
line of sight(directly measurable; and Θ is the tangential velocity

• for R < R, distances are ambiguous,

• for R > R, one needs to know the Galactic constants R and Θ and the form of
Θ(R, z).

R is the distance of the sun from the galactic center and Θ is the velocity of rotation
at the sun . ( a lot more later)

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 Rotation Curve of MW
• Rotation curve of
MW (Reid et al
2010)

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