Made-to-measure (M2M) Particle Method NMAGIC
The goal of dynamical modeling is to recover from observational data the distribution of orbits for the galaxy's stars, and the gravitational potential in which they move. Through dynamical modeling, one can determine the mass of the supermassive black hole in the galaxy's center, or the amount of dark matter in its outskirts. (more on dynamical modelling here)
The idea of the made-to-measure (M2M) method is to find a particle model that faithfully represents the galaxy observations (see Syer & Tremaine, 1996, De Lorenzi, Debattista, Gerhard & Sambhus, 2007) i.e., when the particle model is "observed" in the same way as the galaxy, its surface density distribution and projected kinematics should match those of the galaxy. Once this is achieved, the model can be used to learn about the intrinsic structure of the galaxy. The parallel code NMAGIC is an implementation of a made-to-measure technique suitable for finding such a model from a given set of observational data, starting from an initial particle distribution. (more on the M2M method here)
We have used the M2M method for modelling the dynamics of elliptical galaxy halos and, more recently, the galactic bulge and bar.
We are still updating this section. You can access the old NMAGIC pages here
Regularizing made-to-measure particle models of galaxies
Lucia Morganti & Ortwin Gerhard, 2012, MNRAS, 422, 1571
Made-to-measure methods such as the parallel code NMAGIC have to solve underdetermined problems, where the number of constraints (photometric of kinematic observables) are usually much lower than the number of particle weights to define. A regularization method is therefore needed to make the method converge. Here we introduce a Moving Prior entropy Regularization method (MPR). The basic idea is to update the prior distribution needed by standard entropy regularization in parallel of the weight adaptation. The prior distribution is determined from the distribution of particles in phase-space. This allows one to construct smooth models from noisy data without erasing global phase-space gradients.
Publications
Blaña Díaz, M., Gerhard, O., Wegg, C., Portail, M., Opitsch, M., Saglia, R., et al., 2018, MNRAS, 481, 3210,
Sculpting Andromeda - made-to-measure models for M31's bar and composite bulge: dynamics, stellar and dark matter mass. 2018MNRAS.481.3210B
Portail M., Wegg C., Gerhard O., Ness M., 2017, MNRAS, 470, 1233
Chemodynamical Modelling of the Galactic Bulge and Bar 2017MNRAS.470.1233P
Portail M., Gerhard O., Wegg C., Ness M., 2017, MNRAS, 465, 1621
Dynamical Modelling of the Galactic Bulge and Bar: Pattern Speed, Stellar, and Dark Matter Mass Distributions. 2017MNRAS.465.1621P
Portail, M., Wegg, C., Gerhard, O., Martinez-Valpuesta, I., 2015, MNRAS, 448, 713,
Made-to-measure models of the Galactic box/peanut bulge: stellar and total mass in the bulge region. 2015MNRAS.448..713P
Morganti, L., Gerhard, O., Coccato, L., Martinez-Valpuesta, I., Arnaboldi, M., 2013, MNRAS, 431, 3570,
Elliptical galaxies with rapidly decreasing velocity dispersion profiles: NMAGIC models and dark halo parameter estimates for NGC 4494.
2013MNRAS.431.3570M
De Lorenzi, F., Hartmann, M., Debattista, V. P., Seth, A. C., Gerhard, O., 2013, MNRAS, 429, 2974,
Three-integral multicomponent dynamical models and simulations of the nuclear star cluster in NGC 4244. 2013MNRAS.429.2974D
Morganti, L., Gerhard, O., 2012, MNRAS, 422, 1571,
Regularizing made-to-measure particle models of galaxies. 2012MNRAS.422.1571M
Das, P., Gerhard, O., Mendez, R. H., Teodorescu, A. M., de Lorenzi, F., 2011, MNRAS, 415, 1244,
Using NMAGIC to probe the dark matter halo and orbital structure of the X-ray bright, massive elliptical galaxy, NGC 4649. 2011MNRAS.415.1244D
de Lorenzi, F., Gerhard, O., Coccato, L., Arnaboldi, M., Capaccioli, M., Douglas, N. G., et al., 2009, MNRAS, 395, 76,
Dearth of dark matter or massive dark halo? Mass-shape-anisotropy degeneracies revealed by NMAGIC dynamical models of the elliptical galaxy NGC
3379. 2009MNRAS.395...76D
de Lorenzi, F., Gerhard, O., Saglia, R. P., Sambhus, N., Debattista, V. P., Pannella, M., et al., 2008, MNRAS, 385, 1729,
Dark matter content and internal dynamics of NGC 4697: NMAGIC particle models from slit data and planetary nebula velocities. 2008MNRAS.385.1729D
de Lorenzi, F., Debattista, V. P., Gerhard, O., Sambhus, N., 2007, MNRAS, 376, 71,
NMAGIC: a fast parallel implementation of a χ2-made-to-measure algorithm for modelling observational data. 2007MNRAS.376...71D