On the mass of the Local Group

Understand

We use recent proper motion measurements of the tangential velocity of M31, along with its radial velocity and distance, to derive the likelihood of the sum of halo masses of the Milky Way and M31.

• This is done using a sample halo pairs in the Bolshoi cosmological simulation of $\Lambda$CDM cosmology selected to match properties and environment of the Local Group.
• The resulting likelihood gives estimate of the sum of masses of $M_{\rm MW,200}+M_{\rm M31,200}=$ $2.40_{-1.05}^{+1.95}\times10^{12}\,M_{\odot}$ ($90\%$ confidence interval).
• This estimate is consistent with individual mass estimates for the Milky Way and M31 and is consistent, albeit somewhat on the low side, with the mass estimated using the timing argument.