Dynamical Modeling of NGC 6809: Selecting the best model using Bayesian Inference

Understand

The precise cosmological origin of globular clusters remains uncertain, a situation hampered by the struggle of observational approaches in conclusively identifying the presence, or not, of dark matter in these systems.

• In this paper, we address this question through an analysis of the particular case of NGC 6809.
• While previous studies have performed dynamical modeling of this globular cluster using a small number of available kinematic data, they did not perform appropriate statistical inference tests for the choice of best model description; such statistical inference for model selection is important since, in general, different models can result in significantly different inferred quantities.
• With the latest kinematic data, we use Bayesian inference tests for model selection and thus obtain the best fitting models, as well as mass and dynamic mass-to-light ratio estimates.