MASS PROFILES OF LATE GALAXIES USING A GENETIC ALGORITHM. I - TESTING THE ALGORITHM

Abstract

The rotation curve of a galaxy contains a wealth of information about its dynamical properties, being the mass distribution one of the most important. The rotation curve fitting procedures used to estimate the mass profiles of disc galaxies have become more sophisticated over the years, providing ever more reliable results. However, the time-cost and data requirements (e.g. high-resolution NIR photometry) necessary to put to use some of them have restricted these kind of studies to small samples of galaxies. We propose a simple procedure that could be used as a good first approximation for the study of large galaxy samples. It is based on a parameter-fitting method along with a recent optimization algorithm, called the Asexual Genetic Algorithm (AGA). With this procedure, we were able to replicate previously published results, within uncertainties, suggesting that it will provide a reliable first estimation, suitable for its application to large galaxy samples.