text:
# Dynamics of the Globular Cluster System Associated with M49 (NGC 4472): Cluster Orbital Properties and the Distribution of Dark MatterBased on observations obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory which is operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy, a scientific partnership between the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

## 1 Introduction

Systems of globular clusters (GCs) can be found in galaxies of virtually all types, from the brightest members of rich galaxy clusters to faint dwarfs in loose groups. Recent studies suggest that, over a range of roughly ten thousand in total luminosity, about 0.25% of the baryonic mass in galaxies takes the form of GCs (Blakeslee, Tonry & Metzger 1997; McLaughlin 1999a; Blakeslee 1999). Given this ubiquity, and the relative ease with which they can be detected and studied in external galaxies, GCs have long been recognized as invaluable probes of galaxy formation and evolution (see, $`e.g.,`$ Harris 1991 and references therein). To date, observational studies of extragalactic GC systems have most commonly relied on GC specific frequencies, metallicities and, in a few cases, ages, to constrain formation models for GC systems and their host galaxies ($`e.g.`$, Cohen, Blakeslee & Rhyzov 1998; Kundu $`etal.`$1999; Puzia $`etal.`$1999; Gebhardt & Kissler-Patig 1999; Larsen $`etal.`$2001; Jordán $`etal.`$2002; Cohen, Blakeslee & Côté 2003). However, additional insights into the process of galaxy formation may, at least in principle, be gleaned from the dynamical properties of GC systems.

Not only do radial velocity surveys of extragalactic GCs provide a way of tracing out the distribution of dark matter within the host galaxy but, with sufficiently large samples, they offer the hope of measuring directly the shape of the GC velocity ellipsoid. Not surprisingly, the first dynamical studies of an extragalactic GC system focused on the rich GC population of M87=NGC 4486 ($`e.g.,`$ Huchra & Brodie 1987; Mould, Oke & Nemec 1987; Mould $`etal.`$1990). However, with radial velocities available for just 44 clusters, only very weak constraints could be placed on the mass distribution — and then only if some assumption (i.e., isotropy) were made a priori regarding the GC orbital properties (see Merritt & Tremblay 1993). As Merritt & Tremblay show, dauntingly large samples of order one thousand velocities would be required to constrain, simultaneously and self-consistently in the absence of any other information, both the velocity anisotropy of a GC system and the underlying mass distribution of its parent galaxy.

Only recently have multi-object spectrographs on 4m- and 8m-class telescopes begun to produce anywhere near the large numbers of radial velocities needed to execute such a program in any galaxy. Hanes $`etal.`$(2001) compiled a radial velocity database of 278 GCs associated with M87 after combining new CFHT velocities with published data from Mould $`etal.`$(1990), Cohen & Ryzhov (1997) and Cohen (2000). By using an independent mass model for M87 and the surrounding “Virgo A” cluster (McLaughlin 1999b), Côté $`etal.`$(2001) showed from these data that the M87 GC system as a whole has an almost perfectly isotropic velocity dispersion tensor. Considered separately, the metal-poor and metal-rich GC subsystems showed some evidence for weak tangential and radial biases, respectively.

Since M87 contains the richest and most thoroughly studied GC system in the Local Supercluster, it was the obvious first choice for such studies. However, its unique location — at the dynamical center of the Virgo Cluster as traced by both galaxies and intracluster gas — complicates the interpretation of the dynamical properties of its GC system. For instance, Côté $`etal.`$(2001) noted that the apparent rotation of the metal-poor GCs in M87 might be better described as a velocity “shear” similar to that exhibited on larger scales by the surrounding Virgo cluster galaxies. If correct, this would suggest a connection between the M87 GCs and the surrounding population of (mostly dwarf) galaxies, perhaps due to the slow infall of the material onto M87 itself.

If we are to understand which properties of the M87 GC system are generic to early-type galaxies, and which are unique to M87 as a result of its central location in Virgo, then we require dynamical studies of additional GC systems. An appealing second target is that of M49 (= NGC 4472). As the brightest member of the Virgo cluster, M49 contains $``$ 6000 GCs projected within 100 kpc of its center (Lee $`etal.`$1998; McLaughlin 1999a; Rhode & Zepf 2001) — just the number expected for an elliptical galaxy with the luminosity of M49 and a “normal” specific frequency. M87, by contrast, has an integrated luminosity about 80% that of M49 but contains some 13,500 GCs projected within 100 kpc of its center. This factor-of-three difference in GC specific frequency between the two galaxies may indicate that some as yet unidentified “second parameter” has played a role in the formation and/or evolution of their GC systems (which otherwise appear remarkably similar; see Côté 2003). However, the relevance of the observed specific frequency difference recently has been called into question by McLaughlin (1999a), who showed that the number of GCs associated with M87 and M49 are both consistent with a “universal” ratio of total GC mass to total baryonic galaxy mass, $`ϵ_{\mathrm{GC}}=0.26\pm 0.05\%`$, once the contribution of X-ray gas mass in each galaxy is included. The principal distinction between the two may then be the fact that M87 sits at the gas-rich center of the main Virgo cluster, while M49 occupies the core of the relatively gas-poor, “Virgo B” subcluster (Binggeli, Tammann & Sandage 1987; Binggeli, Popescu & Tammann 1993; Schindler, Binggeli & Böhringer 1999).

The first radial velocity measurements for M49 GCs were presented by Mould $`etal.`$(1990), who reported a global velocity dispersion of $`340\pm 50`$ km s-1 based on a sample of 26 GCs. Building on this work, Sharples $`etal.`$(1998) presented radial velocities for an additional 47 GCs, found a difference in velocity dispersion between the metal-poor and metal-rich subsystems (320 and 240 km s-1, respectively), and noted the presence of apparent rotation among the metal-poor subsystem. These conclusions were reinforced by Zepf $`etal.`$(2000), who measured velocities for another 87 GCs and found global velocity dispersions of 356$`\pm `$25 km s-1 and 221$`\pm `$22 km s-1 for the metal-poor and metal-rich subsystems, with projected rotation amplitudes of 101 and 15 km s-1 for the two populations. These findings are in stark contrast with those for M87, where both GC populations were found to be rapidly rotating, with projected rotation amplitudes of roughly 170 km s-1 (Côté $`etal.`$2001). Zepf $`etal.`$also calculated the mass distribution around M49 implied by the velocity-dispersion profile of the full GC system under the assumption of orbital isotropy, and showed this to resemble the gravitating-mass profile inferred from X-ray observations (Irwin & Sarazin 1996).

In this paper, we present 196 new radial velocities for GC candidates in M49 obtained with the Keck I and II telescopes. Combining our new radial velocities with those from the literature, we isolate a sample of 263 distinct objects whose colors and radial velocities are consistent with their being GCs belonging to M49. This database is comparable to that presented recently for M87 (Hanes $`etal.`$2001) in terms of sample size, spatial coverage (from about 0.1 to 3 effective radii), velocity precision, and the availability of metallicities from Washington photometry. With it, we largely confirm the earlier conclusions summarized above on the global, spatially averaged kinematics of the GC system as a whole and of its metal-poor and metal-rich components. However, with our expanded dataset, we are better able to examine trends in the GC kinematics as a function of galactocentric position. We see some evidence that the bulk of the metal-rich GC system may in fact rotate—albeit very slowly and with low statistical significance—in a direction opposite to the metal-poor GCs.

We then go on to carry out a dynamical analysis of the three GC samples (full, metal-poor, and metal-rich) based on the Jeans equation following the methodology laid out in McLaughlin (1999b) and Côté $`etal.`$(2001). We adopt a mass model for M49/Virgo B that we have constructed completely independently of any GC data (McLaughlin & Côté 2003), which allows us to treat the velocity anisotropy of the GC system as a free parameter to be constrained. Our main new result is the demonstration that velocity isotropy suffices fully to describe the velocity ellipsoid of the full globular cluster system ($`i.e.`$, with no attempt made to separate red GCs from blue). M49 is the second galaxy (after M87) in which we have attempted this sort of analysis, and it is the second in which isotropy has been found to hold to a high level of precision. Quite apart from any bearing that GC dynamics will have on issues of galaxy and globular cluster formation, this suggests that it could very well be reasonable to assume orbital isotropy in other GC systems in order to use them as accurate probes of the total mass distribution in early-type galaxies whose mass profiles have not been secured through independent means.

## 2 Observations, Reductions and the Composite Database

In this section, we describe the criteria used to target candidate GCs for observation with the Low Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (LRIS; Oke $`etal.`$1995), the procedures used to acquire and reduce the LRIS spectra, and the methods used to define the composite GC database for M49.

### 2.1 Sample Selection

Before embarking upon a radial velocity survey, we require a sample of objects whose magnitudes and colors are consistent with those expected for GCs associated with the program galaxy. We used the photometric catalog of Geisler, Lee & Kim (1996) to select candidate GCs for spectroscopic observations. This catalog, which contains GC candidates spread over an area of $``$ 256 arcmin2 centered on M49, has the benefit that the imaging on which it is based was carried out in Washington $`C`$ and $`T_1`$ filters, a combination that is known to provide excellent metallicity sensitivity for old stellar populations. A total of 1774 GC candidates brighter than $`T_1=23`$ make up the catalog. Since accurate coordinates are needed to design the slit-masks, we combined the GC pixel positions given in Geisler $`etal.`$(1996) with the coordinates reported by Sharples $`etal.`$(1998) for 61 GCs to derive astrometric positions for all objects in the Geisler $`etal.`$(1996) catalog.

### 2.2 Keck Spectroscopy

Spectra for candidate GCs were obtained in the course of four observing runs at the W.M. Keck Observatory during the 1998, 1999 and 2000 observing seasons. The observing log given in Table 1 records the identification number, observing dates, grating, central wavelength and resolving power for each observing run. A total of 14 LRIS masks were designed, targeting GC candidates in the range $`1(CT_1)2.25`$ and 20 $`T_1`$ 22.25.111For $`CT_1=1.60`$ — the mean color of our 263 GCs — this magnitude range is roughly equivalent to $`20.5<V<22.7`$ (Geisler 1996). Individual masks contained between 19 and 29 slits, measuring 1$`\stackrel{}{\mathrm{.}}`$0 in width and having a minimum length of 8$`\stackrel{}{\mathrm{.}}`$0. Two different instrumental setups were employed. During runs 1 and 4, we used a 600 line mm-1 grating blazed at 5000 Å and centered at wavelengths of 5200 Å and 4860 Å, respectively. During runs 2 and 3, we used a 600 line mm-1 grating blazed at 7500 Å and centered at 8550 Å. For both configurations, the dispersion was 1.28 Å pixel-1, giving a spectral resolution of 6 Å and a wavelength coverage of $``$2600 Å. For each mask, we obtained a pair of exposures ranging between 2400s and 3000s, with comparison spectra for Hg-Ne-Ar-Kr-Xe and quartz lamps taken before and/or after each exposure. On each night, long-slit spectra for 2–4 IAU radial velocity standard stars were obtained during twilight. The extracted, wavelength-calibrated spectra for the candidate GCs were cross-correlated against a master template spectrum created from these spectra. All reductions were performed within the IRAF environment.222IRAF is distributed by the National Optical Astronomy Observatories, which are operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under contract to the National Science Foundation.

Uncertainties for radial velocities measured from spectra acquired during runs 1–3 were derived from the cross-correlation functions using the method of Tonry & Davis (1979). A total of 147 radial velocities were measured during these observing runs; the mean and median uncertainties for these measurements are 104 and 97 km s-1. Spectra obtained during run 4 were typically of the highest quality, as only the brightest GC candidates were selected during this run ($`i.e.,`$ objects with 20.1 $`T_1`$ 21.51). Radial velocities were measured from these spectra following the methods outlined in Cohen & Ryzhov (1997), and representative uncertainties of 25 or 50 km s-1 were assigned based on the repeatability of measurements based on multiple strong absorption lines. Including these measurements, the total number of new radial velocities presented here is 196, with mean and median uncertainties of 86 and 79 km s-1, respectively.

### 2.3 The Composite Database

Before examining the GC kinematics or carrying out a dynamical analysis, we must combine the new velocities with published measurements to isolate a sample of bona fide GCs. In order to correct for possible systematic differences between radial velocities measured during different runs, and with different instruments or telescopes, we have transformed the raw velocities from April 1998 and April 1999 (runs 1 and 3, respectively) onto the system defined by our April 2000 observations (run 4) via the relations,

$$\begin{array}{ccccc}\hfill v_{p,1}& \hfill =& \hfill (1.023)v_{p,1}^{}& \hfill +& \hfill 114\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1\\ \hfill v_{p,3}& \hfill =& \hfill (0.950)v_{p,3}^{}& \hfill +& \hfill 46\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1,\end{array}$$
(1)
which were derived from GCs whose velocities were measured during run 4, and either of runs 1 and 3. Since there are no objects in common between runs 2 and 4, no correction was applied to the former dataset. Likewise, no corrections were applied to the velocities of Sharples $`etal.`$(1998) and Zepf $`etal.`$(2000), since both datasets show good agreement with our measurements. However, we found it necessary to apply a transformation to the velocities of Mould $`etal.`$(1990):

$$\begin{array}{ccccc}\hfill v_{p,M}& \hfill =& \hfill (0.904)v_{p,M}^{}& \hfill +& \hfill 215\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1.\end{array}$$
(2)
Here $`v_{p,M}`$ and $`v_{p,M}^{}`$ denote the corrected and uncorrected velocities from Mould $`etal.`$(1990). Both the scale and zero-point terms in this relation agree with those found by Hanes $`etal.`$(2001) from a comparison of Mould $`etal.`$(1990) radial velocities for M87 GCs with those measured at Keck and CFHT. Figure Dynamics of the Globular Cluster System Associated with M49 (NGC 4472): Cluster Orbital Properties and the Distribution of Dark Matter11affiliation: Based on observations obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory which is operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy, a scientific partnership between the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. compares velocities measured during run 4 with previously published velocities and those obtained during other Keck runs, after applying the above transformations. The dashed line shows the one-to-one relation, while the dotted line indicates the line of best fit.

After transforming the radial velocities onto a common system, the various datasets were merged and a weighted mean velocity, $`v_p`$, was calculated from all measurements for each object. Unfortunately, given the galaxy’s low systemic velocity ($`v_{\mathrm{gal}}=997\pm 7`$ km s-1 according to the NASA Extragalactic Database) and the large line-of-sight velocity dispersion of the GC system ($`\sigma _p300`$ km s-1; see §3 below), there is some ambiguity in distinguishing low-velocity GCs from foreground Galactic stars. After some experimentation, we decided to discard those objects with radial velocities outside of the interval,

$$250v_p1950\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1,$$
(3)
where the upper limit was chosen to include a few unambiguous GCs with radial velocities of $`v_p>1900`$ km s-1. Requiring this range to be symmetric about the systemic velocity would give a low-end cutoff of $``$ 50 km s-1. Such a cutoff would almost certainly result in the inclusion of some halo stars in our sample. If the velocity dispersion of the M49 GC system is $``$ 300 km s-1 then, in a sample of the present size, we expect at most two M49 globulars will fall below the low-end velocity limit in equation (3).

In addition to the above selection on radial velocity, we imposed the condition that true M49 GCs must have colors in the range,

$$1.0(CT_1)2.25\mathrm{mag},$$
(4)
and adopted a foreground extinction of $`E(BV)=0.022`$ based on the DIRBE maps of Schlegel, Finkbeiner & Davies (1998). According to the relation of Secker $`etal.`$(1995), this extinction is equivalent to $`E(CT_1)`$ = 0.045. With the color-metallicity calibration of Geisler & Forte (1990), this color range translates to a metallicity interval of $``$2.15 $`<`$ \[Fe/H\] $`<`$ +0.8 dex. From optical spectroscopy, Beasley $`etal.`$(2000) showed the M49 GC system to span a range of $``$1.6 $`<`$ \[Fe/H\] $`<`$ 0 dex, so our selection limits should include the vast majority of GCs in M49.

Figure Dynamics of the Globular Cluster System Associated with M49 (NGC 4472): Cluster Orbital Properties and the Distribution of Dark Matter11affiliation: Based on observations obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory which is operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy, a scientific partnership between the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. presents an illustration of these selection criteria. The upper left panel shows color histograms for the 1774 objects with $`T_123`$ in the the catalog of Geisler $`etal.`$(1996), as well as for the 276 GC candidates with measured velocities (upper and lower histograms, respectively). The dashed vertical lines show the adopted cutoffs on $`(CT_1)`$ color, while the dotted vertical lines indicates the value of $`(CT_1)=1.625`$ used to divide the sample into metal-poor and metal-rich components. According to the color-metallicity relation of Geisler & Forte (1990), this dividing point corresponds to a metallicity of \[Fe/H\] = $``$0.68 dex.333Globular cluster metallicities quoted in this paper are $``$ 0.1 dex lower than those reported in Geisler $`etal.`$(1996) since we have adopted the Schlegel $`etal.`$(1998) extinction of $`E(BV)=0.022`$; Geisler $`etal.`$(1996) assumed $`E(BV)=0`$.

The upper right panel of Figure Dynamics of the Globular Cluster System Associated with M49 (NGC 4472): Cluster Orbital Properties and the Distribution of Dark Matter11affiliation: Based on observations obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory which is operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy, a scientific partnership between the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. shows a radial velocity histogram for the same sample of 276 objects. Note that two objects (identification numbers #4497 and #1982 in Geisler $`etal.`$1996) fall outside the plotted region. The vertical lines show the adopted cutoffs on radial velocity, while the arrow indicates the velocity of M49 itself. The lower panel of Figure Dynamics of the Globular Cluster System Associated with M49 (NGC 4472): Cluster Orbital Properties and the Distribution of Dark Matter11affiliation: Based on observations obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory which is operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy, a scientific partnership between the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. shows the joint constraints on color and radial velocity in the form of a color-velocity diagram. Filled circles show all objects with measured radial velocities, with the exception of #4497 and #1982 which, once again, fall outside the plotted region. The dashed box indicates the adopted selection criteria for color and radial velocity. Note that #2256, the lone circled object inside the boxed region, was not included in the final sample of GCs since two independent velocity measurements for this object differ by more than 700 km s-1. Similarly, two independent measurements for #1982 disagree on whether this object is a true GC or a background galaxy. Discarding it, and the 12 objects that fall outside of the dashed region in Figure Dynamics of the Globular Cluster System Associated with M49 (NGC 4472): Cluster Orbital Properties and the Distribution of Dark Matter11affiliation: Based on observations obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory which is operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy, a scientific partnership between the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration., brings the final sample to 263 GCs.

The final GC database is given in Table 2. The first five columns of this table record the object identification number from Geisler $`etal.`$(1996), right ascension, declination, distance from the center of M49 in arcseconds, $`R`$, and position angle, $`\mathrm{\Theta }`$, in degrees East of North. In calculating $`R`$ and $`\mathrm{\Theta }`$, we take the center of M49 to be $`\alpha `$(J2000) = 12:29:47.5 and $`\delta `$(J2000) = +08:00:10.5 following Sharples $`etal.`$(1998). The next three columns of Table 2 give the $`T_1`$ magnitude, $`(CT_1)`$ color, and metallicity based on the color-metallicity relation of Geisler & Forte (1990). Individual radial velocity measurements and their source are presented in the next two columns. The final column gives the weighted mean velocity and uncertainty for each object. The 263 confirmed GCs are listed first in the table; objects classified as foreground stars or background galaxies, and objects with discrepant radial velocity measurements, are given at the end.

The spatial distribution of the final sample of GCs is shown in Figure Dynamics of the Globular Cluster System Associated with M49 (NGC 4472): Cluster Orbital Properties and the Distribution of Dark Matter11affiliation: Based on observations obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory which is operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy, a scientific partnership between the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.. Metal-poor GCs are indicated by circles, and metal-rich GCs by squares. Open and filled symbols indicate GCs with positive and negative velocity residuals, $`\mathrm{\Delta }v_pv_pv_{\mathrm{gal}}`$, with respect to M49. Symbol sizes are proportional to the absolute value of the residual velocity. The dashed lines show the photometric major and minor axes of the galaxy, with respective position angles of $`\mathrm{\Theta }=155^{}`$ and $`65^{}`$ (Kim $`etal.`$2000). The large circle shows our determination of galaxy’s effective radius, $`R_{\mathrm{eff}}=3\stackrel{}{\mathrm{.}}1`$, based on our modeling of the Kim $`etal.`$surface photometry (see §4.2 below). At our adopted distance of 15 Mpc, 1′= 4.363 kpc, so that $`R_{\mathrm{eff}}=13.5`$ kpc. The full GC sample spans a range of projected galactocentric radius $`0\stackrel{}{\mathrm{.}}4<R<9\stackrel{}{\mathrm{.}}5`$, equivalent to $`1.9<R<41`$ kpc or $``$ 0.1–3$`R_{\mathrm{eff}}`$. A comparison of Figure Dynamics of the Globular Cluster System Associated with M49 (NGC 4472): Cluster Orbital Properties and the Distribution of Dark Matter11affiliation: Based on observations obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory which is operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy, a scientific partnership between the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. with Figure 2 of Côté $`etal.`$(2001) reveals the azimuthal distribution of radial velocity measurements to be somewhat more uniform in M49 than was the case for M87.

## 3 Kinematics of the Globular Cluster System

Before proceeding with a dynamical analysis of the GC system, we examine its kinematics in a model-independent way. Our aim is to determine the basic parameters that describe the GC system: the average line-of-sight velocity, projected velocity dispersion and, if rotation is important, its amplitude and the position angle of the rotation axis. In this section, we consider both the global kinematic properties of the GC system and their behavior as a function of galactocentric distance.

We fit the observed line-of-sight velocities of the GCs with the function,

$$v_p=v_{\mathrm{sys}}+(\mathrm{\Omega }R)\mathrm{sin}(\mathrm{\Theta }\mathrm{\Theta }_0),$$
(5)
where $`\mathrm{\Theta }`$ is the projected position angle from a reference axis (taken here to be the North–South direction, such that $`\mathrm{\Theta }`$ is measured in degrees East of North) and $`\mathrm{\Theta }_0`$ is the orientation of the rotation axis of the GC system. A complete discussion of the implications of fitting sine curves of this type to projected ($`v_p`$, $`\mathrm{\Theta }`$) data is given in Côté $`etal.`$(2001). Briefly, in so doing we assume that the GC system is spherically symmetric with an intrinsic angular velocity field stratified on spheres, and that the GC rotation axis lies exactly in the plane of the sky (in other words, that the galaxy is being viewed “edge-on”). In principle, the rotation amplitude, $`\mathrm{\Omega }R`$, may then be any function of galactocentric radius $`R`$; fitting equation (5) to our data does not imply an assumption of solid-body rotation or of cylindrical symmetry in the velocity field. Our assumption of spherical symmetry for the GC system is reasonable given its modest projected ellipticity (0.16 according to Lee $`etal.`$1998).

### 3.1 Global Kinematic Properties

Kinematic properties of various subsets of the GC system are summarized in Table 3. The first five columns in this table record the radial range spanned by the cluster sample in question, the median galactocentric distance, $`R`$, and number, $`N`$, of GCs in each sample, the average radial velocity (the biweight “location” of Beers, Flynn, & Gebhardt 1990), $`\overline{v_p}`$, and the rms dispersion about this average (the biweight “scale” of Beers $`etal.`$1990), $`\sigma _p`$. Quoted uncertainties represent 68% (1-$`\sigma `$) confidence intervals, determined from a numerical bootstrap procedure in which 1000 artificial datasets are individually analyzed after choosing $`N`$ clusters at random from the actual subsample under consideration.

Rather than let $`v_{\mathrm{sys}}`$ be a free parameter in the fits of equation (5) to the $`v_p`$$`\mathrm{\Theta }`$ data, we make use of the expectation (confirmed by the results in Column 4 of Table 3) that the average velocity of the GC system should equal that of M49 itself: $`v_{\mathrm{sys}}v_{\mathrm{gal}}=997`$ km s-1. In the remaining columns of Table 3, we therefore give the position angle of the rotation axis, $`\mathrm{\Theta }_0`$, the rotation amplitude, $`(\mathrm{\Omega }R)`$, and the dispersion about the best-fit sine curve, $`\sigma _{p,r}`$, obtained with this constraint placed on $`v_{\mathrm{sys}}`$.

The first line of each the three subsections of Table 3 presents the results of immediate interest: the global kinematics ($`i.e.`$, those determined using all appropriate GC data with no discrimination on the basis of galactocentric position) for our full GC sample and for the separate metal-poor and metal-rich subsystems. The remainder of the table applies to further division of the GC data into four wide radial bins; these results are discussed in the next subsection.

The global velocity dispersion of the metal-poor GC system is significantly larger than that of the metal-rich GC system: $`\sigma _{p,r}=342`$ km s-1 versus 265 km s-1. The global velocity dispersion of the entire GC system, $`\sigma _{p,r}=312`$ km s-1, is naturally intermediate to these values; it falls somewhat closer to the metal-poor value because that sample is $``$ 50% larger than the metal-rich one. These results are consistent with the previous measurements of Sharples $`etal.`$(1998) and Zepf $`etal.`$(2000) based on smaller samples.

Figure Dynamics of the Globular Cluster System Associated with M49 (NGC 4472): Cluster Orbital Properties and the Distribution of Dark Matter11affiliation: Based on observations obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory which is operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy, a scientific partnership between the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. plots the individual velocities $`v_p`$ against projected position angle $`\mathrm{\Theta }`$ for GCs at all galactocentric radii in each of our three metallicity samples. A horizontal, broken line in each panel of this figure marks the velocity of M49, $`v_{\mathrm{gal}}=997`$ km s-1. It is immediately apparent that the lower dispersion of the metal-rich GC velocities relative to the metal-poor sample stems in part from the absence of even a single GC with $`(CT_1)1.625`$ and $`v_p>1500`$ km s-1— a fact that is also reflected in the empty, upper right-hand corner of the box used to identify globular clusters in the bottom panel of Figure Dynamics of the Globular Cluster System Associated with M49 (NGC 4472): Cluster Orbital Properties and the Distribution of Dark Matter11affiliation: Based on observations obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory which is operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy, a scientific partnership between the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.. It would appear that this effect is real: if the metal-rich GC velocity dispersion were the same ($``$ 340 km s-1) as the metal-poor one, then given a sample of 105 metal-rich clusters with $`v_p<1500`$ km s-1, we should have also found 8–9 with $`v_p>1500`$ km s-1. There is no obvious deficiency in the spatial coverage of the full radial velocity survey that might account for the discrepancy (see Figure Dynamics of the Globular Cluster System Associated with M49 (NGC 4472): Cluster Orbital Properties and the Distribution of Dark Matter11affiliation: Based on observations obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory which is operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy, a scientific partnership between the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.).

The bold sine curves in the two upper panels of Figure Dynamics of the Globular Cluster System Associated with M49 (NGC 4472): Cluster Orbital Properties and the Distribution of Dark Matter11affiliation: Based on observations obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory which is operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy, a scientific partnership between the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. trace the best fits of equation (5) to the entire GC dataset and the metal-poor subset when $`v_{\mathrm{sys}}`$ is held fixed and equal to $`v_{\mathrm{gal}}=997`$ km s-1 (i.e., with $`\mathrm{\Omega }R`$ and $`\mathrm{\Theta }_0`$ given in Columns 6 and 7 of Table 3). For the full sample, the best-fit sine curve has $`\mathrm{\Omega }R=53`$ km s-1 and $`\mathrm{\Theta }_0=105^{}`$. More importantly, we find that $`\mathrm{\Omega }R=93`$ km s-1 and $`\mathrm{\Theta }_0=100^{}`$ for the metal-poor sample, while $`\mathrm{\Omega }R`$ is easily consistent with zero for the metal-rich GC system (hence, the fit to it is not drawn on Figure Dynamics of the Globular Cluster System Associated with M49 (NGC 4472): Cluster Orbital Properties and the Distribution of Dark Matter11affiliation: Based on observations obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory which is operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy, a scientific partnership between the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.). Thus, averaged over $`R<3R_{\mathrm{eff}}`$ in M49, the metal-rich GC system shows essentially no net rotation, while the metal-poor GC system does. Our result for the metal-poor rotation amplitude is consistent with that of Zepf $`etal.`$(2000), who found $`\mathrm{\Omega }R=101`$ km s-1 for a sample of 93 blue GCs. Our finding for the metal-rich GC is similarly in keeping with previous analyses (see also Sharples $`etal.`$1998).

The position angle of the galaxy’s photometric minor axis is $`\mathrm{\Theta }_{\mathrm{min}}=65^{}`$ (Kim $`etal.`$2000) and, to within its (large) 1-$`\sigma `$ errorbars, our fitted rotation axis for the metal-poor GC system is roughly consistent with this. However, it is incompatible at the 1.5-$`\sigma `$ level with alignment along the photometric major axis, which is the solution favored by Zepf $`etal.`$(2000) for their smaller sample of metal-poor GCs (and their full GC system). Though also similar to the photometric minor axis of M49, the fitted $`\mathrm{\Theta }_0`$ for the metal-rich GCs is effectively meaningless because of the formally null rotation amplitude.

To summarize these global, spatially averaged impressions, the average velocity of each GC sample is in very good agreement with that of M49 itself. The global velocity dispersions of the metal-poor and metal-rich samples differ formally by 76 km s-1 (although the 2-$`\sigma `$ errorbars overlap) with the metal-poor GCs being dynamically hotter than their metal-rich counterparts. The GC system appears as a whole to be slowly rotating, but this is purely the result of a net signal from the metal-poor GC subsystem alone; the metal-rich subsystem has none. The velocity dispersions of the full and the metal-poor GC samples are not changed by the correction for rotation, as is apparent from a comparison of the values of $`\sigma _{p,r}`$ and $`\sigma _p`$ in Table 3. Thus, regardless of its statistical significance, rotation is not dynamically important in the M49 GC system. And although it is only loosely determined, the average kinematic axis of the metal-poor GC system does not differ significantly from the photometric minor axis of M49.

### 3.2 Kinematic Properties as a Function of Projected Radius

Table 3 also presents the GC kinematics that result from further dividing each of the three metallicity samples that we have defined into four broad radial bins: (1) $`25\mathrm{}R<150\mathrm{}`$; (2) $`150\mathrm{}R<250\mathrm{}`$; (3) $`250\mathrm{}R<350\mathrm{}`$; and (4) $`350\mathrm{}R<570\mathrm{}`$. Although the parameters in some bins with small GC numbers must be viewed with caution, the results suggest that there are no drastic changes in the average and rms velocities for each sample.

It is also clear that the lower velocity dispersion of the metal-rich GCs relative to the metal-poor GCs, noted above on the basis of globally averaged kinematics, is only apparent outside of the first radial bin; the metal-poor and metal-rich clusters within $`R150\mathrm{}0.8R_{\mathrm{eff}}`$ have the same $`\sigma _p`$ and $`\sigma _{p,r}`$. Figures Dynamics of the Globular Cluster System Associated with M49 (NGC 4472): Cluster Orbital Properties and the Distribution of Dark Matter11affiliation: Based on observations obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory which is operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy, a scientific partnership between the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. and Dynamics of the Globular Cluster System Associated with M49 (NGC 4472): Cluster Orbital Properties and the Distribution of Dark Matter11affiliation: Based on observations obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory which is operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy, a scientific partnership between the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. demonstrate these points visually. Figure Dynamics of the Globular Cluster System Associated with M49 (NGC 4472): Cluster Orbital Properties and the Distribution of Dark Matter11affiliation: Based on observations obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory which is operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy, a scientific partnership between the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. is a plot of individual GC velocities versus projected galactocentric radii, for the entire sample regardless of color and for the metal-poor and metal-rich subsamples separately. Overplotted are large, open squares at the median radius and average velocity of each radial bin, as reported in Columns 2 and 4 of Table 3. The vertical errorbars on these large squares represent the dispersion about the average velocity (Column 5 of Table 3), and the horizontal errorbars delimit the bins themselves. The broken horizontal line through each panel shows the systemic velocity of the galaxy.

The scatter of points about the line $`v_p=997`$ km s-1 in the top panel of Figure Dynamics of the Globular Cluster System Associated with M49 (NGC 4472): Cluster Orbital Properties and the Distribution of Dark Matter11affiliation: Based on observations obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory which is operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy, a scientific partnership between the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. implies that the average and dispersion of $`v_p`$ in the full GC system are indeed essentially constant as functions of galactocentric position — until the region beyond $`R>7\stackrel{}{\mathrm{.}}533`$ kpc, where there is an obvious dearth of high-velocity GCs in our sample. We suspect that this is an artifact of the small sample size, but we cannot rule out with certainty that is a real, physical effect. Until the question can be addressed directly (with still more GC velocity measurements at large radii), any kinematics referring to $`R>30\mathrm{kpc}`$ in the M49 GC system should perhaps be viewed as provisional. Meanwhile, the middle and bottom panels of Figure Dynamics of the Globular Cluster System Associated with M49 (NGC 4472): Cluster Orbital Properties and the Distribution of Dark Matter11affiliation: Based on observations obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory which is operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy, a scientific partnership between the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. suggest that the average velocities of the metal-poor and metal-rich subsamples agree separately, at all $`R<30`$ kpc, with the galaxy’s systemic velocity. The bottom panel also shows again the absence of any red GCs with $`v_p>1500`$ km s-1, and it further reveals a deficit of clusters with $`v<700`$ km s-1 at radii $`R>3\mathrm{}R_{\mathrm{eff}}`$.

We have also constructed “smoothed”, binning-independent radial profiles of average and rms GC velocity, following the procedure of Côté $`etal.`$(2001): a radial bin of fixed width (chosen here to be $`\mathrm{\Delta }R=120\mathrm{}8.7`$ kpc) is slid through the GC dataset, centering on each globular in turn, and if the number of objects falling within this spatial bin exceeds a minimum of 20 then the biweight average and rms velocity at that position are calculated. (Equation  is also fit to the $`v_p`$$`\mathrm{\Theta }`$ data in the bin around every point; the rotation profiles that result are discussed below.) Confidence intervals about the best-fit kinematics are defined by the same bootstrap method that was used to calculate the errorbars in Table 3.

The profile of average GC velocity as a function of galactocentric position that results from this procedure only confirms that $`\overline{v_p}`$ is constant (inside $`R<30`$ kpc) and equal to $`v_{\mathrm{gal}}`$ for each metallicity sample. The velocity dispersion profiles that we obtain are shown in Figure Dynamics of the Globular Cluster System Associated with M49 (NGC 4472): Cluster Orbital Properties and the Distribution of Dark Matter11affiliation: Based on observations obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory which is operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy, a scientific partnership between the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. for the full GC system and the metal-poor and metal-rich subsets (filled squares represent the dispersion $`\sigma _p`$ of velocities about the average; open squares, the dispersion $`\sigma _{p,r}`$ about the best-fit sine curve at each point). The horizontal errorbar in the top panel represents the 2′ width of the sliding radial bin that we have used; only points separated by this distance in these plots are statistically independent. The dotted and solid lines around the points in each panel denote the 68% and 95% confidence intervals for each measurement. All in all, the impressions gleaned from Table 3 and Figure Dynamics of the Globular Cluster System Associated with M49 (NGC 4472): Cluster Orbital Properties and the Distribution of Dark Matter11affiliation: Based on observations obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory which is operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy, a scientific partnership between the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. are confirmed in Figure Dynamics of the Globular Cluster System Associated with M49 (NGC 4472): Cluster Orbital Properties and the Distribution of Dark Matter11affiliation: Based on observations obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory which is operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy, a scientific partnership between the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration..

The velocity dispersion of the full GC system is remarkably constant as a function of radius inside $`R<30`$ kpc, never straying by more than $`1\sigma `$ from the global average of 312 km s-1 (dashed horizontal line in the top panel). We do not see the gradual decline in $`\sigma _p(R)`$ with radius that was inferred by Zepf $`etal.`$(2000) on the basis of a heavily spatially smoothed representation of a smaller dataset. The dispersion profile of the metal-poor GCs is also relatively flat; if anything, it tends to increase towards larger radii (although this trend is not highly significant). This behavior is opposite to that found by Zepf $`etal.`$(2000).

The metal-rich GC system is roughly as dynamically hot as the metal-poor GC sample at small galactocentric radii, but it becomes colder beyond $`R3\mathrm{}13\mathrm{kpc}1R_{\mathrm{eff}}`$ before possibly increasing slightly again towards $`R6\mathrm{}2R_{\mathrm{eff}}`$. None of this variation, however, is significant at more than the 68% confidence level. Also, note that we are unable to trace the metal-rich GC kinematics beyond $`R=6\mathrm{}`$ in the present approach, because there are fewer than 20 red clusters between that radius and $`R9\stackrel{}{\mathrm{.}}5`$, whereas every point in Figure Dynamics of the Globular Cluster System Associated with M49 (NGC 4472): Cluster Orbital Properties and the Distribution of Dark Matter11affiliation: Based on observations obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory which is operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy, a scientific partnership between the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. relies on data for at least 20 GCs within a 2′ interval in $`R`$. Thus, we have included in the bottom panel of Figure Dynamics of the Globular Cluster System Associated with M49 (NGC 4472): Cluster Orbital Properties and the Distribution of Dark Matter11affiliation: Based on observations obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory which is operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy, a scientific partnership between the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. (as a large open square with vertical errorbars corresponding to 68% and 95% confidence intervals) the estimate for $`\sigma _p`$ in the outermost radial bin of Table 3. Zepf $`etal.`$(2000) presented a smoothed velocity dispersion profile for the metal-rich GC system that appears somewhat flatter than ours inside $`R<6\mathrm{}`$.

The “rotation-corrected” GC velocity dispersions, $`\sigma _{p,r}`$, are nowhere, in any of the three metallicity samples, dramatically different from the dispersions, $`\sigma _p`$, about the average velocity. This is yet another demonstration that rotation is dynamically unimportant in the globular cluster system of this galaxy. Nevertheless, it is of some interest to consider the rotation properties of the GCs as a function of galactocentric radius, as they appear to be somewhat more subtle than suggested by the global view of §3.1, in which the metal-poor GCs show a statistically significant, if small, net rotation while the metal-rich ones do not.

We show in Figure Dynamics of the Globular Cluster System Associated with M49 (NGC 4472): Cluster Orbital Properties and the Distribution of Dark Matter11affiliation: Based on observations obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory which is operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy, a scientific partnership between the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. plots of GC velocity versus projected position angle, for each of the four radial bins defined in Table 3. A broken, horizontal line in each panel again indicates the overall velocity of M49, $`v_{\mathrm{gal}}=997`$ km s-1, and the bold sine curves trace the best fits of equation (5) to the metal-poor (filled points and solid curves) and metal-rich (open points and broken curves) GCs in each bin. (The fit parameters are again those in Columns 6 and 7 of Table 3.) This gives some indication of the quality of the sine fits we are able to achieve with the data so finely divided, and the extent to which such fits are even feasible given the data. Note that we do not present any rotation fit for the metal-rich GCs in the bin $`250\mathrm{}R<350\mathrm{}`$, for reasons that we shall discuss shortly.

For more detail, Figures Dynamics of the Globular Cluster System Associated with M49 (NGC 4472): Cluster Orbital Properties and the Distribution of Dark Matter11affiliation: Based on observations obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory which is operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy, a scientific partnership between the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.Dynamics of the Globular Cluster System Associated with M49 (NGC 4472): Cluster Orbital Properties and the Distribution of Dark Matter11affiliation: Based on observations obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory which is operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy, a scientific partnership between the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. plot the runs of $`\mathrm{\Omega }R`$ and $`\mathrm{\Theta }_0`$ with galactocentric radius in the full GC system and in the metal-poor and metal-rich subsystems, obtained during the same “smoothing” process that resulted in the velocity dispersion profiles in Figure Dynamics of the Globular Cluster System Associated with M49 (NGC 4472): Cluster Orbital Properties and the Distribution of Dark Matter11affiliation: Based on observations obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory which is operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy, a scientific partnership between the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration..

Figure Dynamics of the Globular Cluster System Associated with M49 (NGC 4472): Cluster Orbital Properties and the Distribution of Dark Matter11affiliation: Based on observations obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory which is operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy, a scientific partnership between the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration., which presents the results for our full sample of 263 GCs, is included primarily for completeness, as it is somewhat more profitable to consider the metal-poor and metal-rich subsamples separately. Worthy of note here, however, are the large uncertainties at every radius in the $`\mathrm{\Theta }_0`$ and $`\mathrm{\Omega }R`$ determinations (as in Figure Dynamics of the Globular Cluster System Associated with M49 (NGC 4472): Cluster Orbital Properties and the Distribution of Dark Matter11affiliation: Based on observations obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory which is operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy, a scientific partnership between the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration., 68% and 95% confidence intervals are indicated here), even when our full dataset is analyzed in bins as wide as 2′. Much larger numbers of GC velocities will be required if the rotation properties of the system are to be characterized point-by-point in this way with any real confidence.

Figure Dynamics of the Globular Cluster System Associated with M49 (NGC 4472): Cluster Orbital Properties and the Distribution of Dark Matter11affiliation: Based on observations obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory which is operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy, a scientific partnership between the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. shows the rotation axis and amplitude as functions of $`R`$ in the metal-poor GC system only. Inside $`R<25`$ kpc, $`\mathrm{\Theta }_0`$ is essentially constant and generally within $`1\sigma `$ of the photometric minor axis of M49 (drawn as the bold, solid lines in the top panel of Figure Dynamics of the Globular Cluster System Associated with M49 (NGC 4472): Cluster Orbital Properties and the Distribution of Dark Matter11affiliation: Based on observations obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory which is operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy, a scientific partnership between the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.). Indeed, it is made clear in this plot that the rotation axis of the metal-poor GC system by and large falls closer to the galaxy’s minor axis than its major axis. The $`\mathrm{\Omega }R`$ profile is similarly rather flat, holding roughly steady (again, within the 1-$`\sigma `$ uncertainties) at the level of 100–150 km s-1. It is nonzero almost everywhere at better than the 68% confidence level, but less than the 2-$`\sigma `$ level. The obvious exception is at very small radii, $`R<2\mathrm{}`$. The strong negative rotation suggested in the innermost radial bin of Table 3, and illustrated in the top panel of Figure Dynamics of the Globular Cluster System Associated with M49 (NGC 4472): Cluster Orbital Properties and the Distribution of Dark Matter11affiliation: Based on observations obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory which is operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy, a scientific partnership between the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration., is seen here simply not to be significant; it is an artifact of the small sample size.

It could be of considerable interest that the metal-poor rotation axis appears to switch suddenly to align with the photometric major axis of M49 (indicated by the bold, dashed lines in the top panel of Figure Dynamics of the Globular Cluster System Associated with M49 (NGC 4472): Cluster Orbital Properties and the Distribution of Dark Matter11affiliation: Based on observations obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory which is operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy, a scientific partnership between the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.) at the largest radii probed by our sample, $`R>6\mathrm{}`$. This is clearly responsible for a similar, though slightly more muted, trend in the full GC system (Figure Dynamics of the Globular Cluster System Associated with M49 (NGC 4472): Cluster Orbital Properties and the Distribution of Dark Matter11affiliation: Based on observations obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory which is operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy, a scientific partnership between the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.). However, since every point plotted in these graphs incorporates all GC data from within 1′ on either side of it, the measurements beyond 6′ all rely on some velocities from $`R>7\mathrm{}30`$ kpc, which is the regime that was mentioned as somewhat suspect on the basis of Figure Dynamics of the Globular Cluster System Associated with M49 (NGC 4472): Cluster Orbital Properties and the Distribution of Dark Matter11affiliation: Based on observations obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory which is operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy, a scientific partnership between the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.. A larger dataset is required to confirm this potential major-axis rotation at large radii in the metal-poor GC system.

Figure Dynamics of the Globular Cluster System Associated with M49 (NGC 4472): Cluster Orbital Properties and the Distribution of Dark Matter11affiliation: Based on observations obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory which is operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy, a scientific partnership between the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. presents the analysis as applied to the metal-rich GC system. Since the “smoothed” profiles cannot be calculated beyond $`R>6\mathrm{}`$ in this case, a single large data point is used to represent the sine-fit parameters for all metal-rich GCs with $`350\mathrm{}R<570\mathrm{}`$ ($`18\mathrm{kpc}<R<41\mathrm{kpc}`$) together. At small radii $`R<4\mathrm{}`$, the axis of GC rotation is poorly determined but is consistent, within the 95% confidence bands, with alignment everywhere along the photometric minor axis (or coincidence with the formal best fit, $`\mathrm{\Theta }_0=100^{}`$, to the metal-poor GC rotation). Notably, and despite the vanishing net rotation of the globally averaged metal-rich GC sample, $`\mathrm{\Omega }R`$ at these small radii differs from zero at the $``$ 1-$`\sigma `$ level and is of opposite sign to that found for the metal-poor GCs. Thus, there is marginal evidence for some counter-rotation in the metal-rich GC subsystem, relative to the metal-poor one, inside $`R<4\stackrel{}{\mathrm{.}}51.5R_{\mathrm{eff}}`$ in M49.

The situation appears in Figure Dynamics of the Globular Cluster System Associated with M49 (NGC 4472): Cluster Orbital Properties and the Distribution of Dark Matter11affiliation: Based on observations obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory which is operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy, a scientific partnership between the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. to change suddenly around $`R4\stackrel{}{\mathrm{.}}5`$, with $`\mathrm{\Omega }R`$ becoming positive, large, and significant at the $`>95\%`$ confidence level. The rotation axis also appears to come sharply into line with the minor axis of the galaxy. However, the reversion to a negative rotation of much lower significance in the outermost bin of our sample suggests that this effect may be related to some curiosity in the data between $`4\mathrm{}<R<6\mathrm{}`$. Indeed, inspection of the metal-rich GC distribution in the third panel of Figure Dynamics of the Globular Cluster System Associated with M49 (NGC 4472): Cluster Orbital Properties and the Distribution of Dark Matter11affiliation: Based on observations obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory which is operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy, a scientific partnership between the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. shows immediately that the azimuthal sampling of metal-rich GC velocities in this radial range is highly incomplete: all but a few data points lie within a couple tens of degrees of the photometric major axis on opposite sides of the galaxy ($`\mathrm{\Theta }=155^{}`$ and $`335^{}`$).

The strong “prograde” rotation that suddenly appears in Figure Dynamics of the Globular Cluster System Associated with M49 (NGC 4472): Cluster Orbital Properties and the Distribution of Dark Matter11affiliation: Based on observations obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory which is operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy, a scientific partnership between the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. comes entirely from a small group of 10 metal-rich clusters, all contained in the thin annulus $`302\mathrm{}R337\mathrm{}`$ ($`22.0\mathrm{kpc}R24.5\mathrm{kpc}`$) and located at opposite poles of the photometric major axis. In ($`v_p`$, $`\mathrm{\Theta }`$) space, these GCs trace almost perfectly (with a dispersion of only $``$100 km s-1) a sine curve with peak and trough at the position angles of the major axis and an amplitude $`\mathrm{\Omega }R=+300`$ km s-1. Because all 10 objects are so closely spaced around their median radius of $`R=319\mathrm{}`$, all 10 are included in every point with $`4\stackrel{}{\mathrm{.}}5R6\stackrel{}{\mathrm{.}}0`$ in Figure Dynamics of the Globular Cluster System Associated with M49 (NGC 4472): Cluster Orbital Properties and the Distribution of Dark Matter11affiliation: Based on observations obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory which is operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy, a scientific partnership between the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration., and they are thus entirely responsible for the behavior in those portions of the smoothed $`\mathrm{\Theta }_0`$ and $`\mathrm{\Omega }R`$ profiles (recall that every point in these profiles is computed using all GC velocities within $`\pm 1\mathrm{}`$ of the indicated position). Similarly, the same 10 objects single-handedly erase a (weak) net negative-rotation signal from the rest of the metal-rich GC system.

In the top panel of Figure Dynamics of the Globular Cluster System Associated with M49 (NGC 4472): Cluster Orbital Properties and the Distribution of Dark Matter11affiliation: Based on observations obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory which is operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy, a scientific partnership between the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration., we show the velocity-position curve of the GCs in question. The sine fit indicated has $`v_{\mathrm{sys}}=997`$ km s-1 and $`\mathrm{\Theta }_0=65^{}`$ fixed, and a fitted amplitude of $`\mathrm{\Omega }R=296`$ km s-1 (2-$`\sigma `$ lower limit: 145 km s-1). The ID’s of the ten objects from Table 2 are: 677, 830, 929, 1508, 6905, 7043, 7894, 8164, 8740, and 8890. Aside from their galactocentric radius, there is no obvious, common characteristic to distinguish them from any other data, although we do note that five of the 10 clusters have super-solar metallicities, and that the one \[#6905\] falling farthest from the fitted sine curve is also the most metal-poor.

The bottom panel of Figure Dynamics of the Globular Cluster System Associated with M49 (NGC 4472): Cluster Orbital Properties and the Distribution of Dark Matter11affiliation: Based on observations obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory which is operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy, a scientific partnership between the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. is an attempt to delineate the rotation curve of the metal-rich GC system with the clusters at $`302\mathrm{}R337\mathrm{}`$ isolated from the rest of the sample. On the basis of the smoothed profiles at $`R<4\mathrm{}`$ and the single-bin datapoints at $`R>6\mathrm{}`$ in Figure Dynamics of the Globular Cluster System Associated with M49 (NGC 4472): Cluster Orbital Properties and the Distribution of Dark Matter11affiliation: Based on observations obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory which is operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy, a scientific partnership between the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration., we fix the position angle of the rotation axis to coincide with the galaxy minor axis for definiteness here ($`\mathrm{\Theta }_065^{}`$). The same smoothing procedure is applied as before, to fit for $`\mathrm{\Omega }R`$ in equation (5), but only using GC data interior to $`R300\mathrm{}`$. The result, shown as the small, solid squares between $`2\mathrm{}<R4\mathrm{}`$ in Figure Dynamics of the Globular Cluster System Associated with M49 (NGC 4472): Cluster Orbital Properties and the Distribution of Dark Matter11affiliation: Based on observations obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory which is operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy, a scientific partnership between the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. (but incorporating data from $`1\mathrm{}<R5\mathrm{}`$), can hardly be called a profile any longer, as now only the two endpoints are independent. It does, however, give an impression of the (small) impact that a particular choice of bin boundaries has on the derived GC rotation amplitude. The open square at $`R=5\stackrel{}{\mathrm{.}}3=23.2`$ kpc represents the clusters in the top panel of Figure Dynamics of the Globular Cluster System Associated with M49 (NGC 4472): Cluster Orbital Properties and the Distribution of Dark Matter11affiliation: Based on observations obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory which is operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy, a scientific partnership between the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration., while the open square at $`R=7\stackrel{}{\mathrm{.}}25`$ is at the rotation amplitude fit to the GCs with $`350\mathrm{}R<570\mathrm{}`$ with $`v_{\mathrm{sys}}=997`$ km s-1 and $`\mathrm{\Theta }_0=65^{}`$ both held fixed.

As we suggested just above, the removal of the small group of apparently rapidly rotating clusters around $`R=22`$–24.5 kpc leaves a metal-rich GC system that, beyond $`R2\mathrm{}0.6R_{\mathrm{eff}}`$ appears to be rotating — albeit slowly, and with less than impressive statistical significance — roughly around the minor axis in a direction counter to the metal-poor GC system. Whether this feature is real or not — and, indeed, whether the highly contaminating influence of the 10 isolated GCs is an unlucky byproduct of sampling statistics or an indication of a real, physical grouping of newly recognized objects — can only be decided by the acquisition of further velocity data. Additional observations of these clusters would certainly be useful, as they may be the relic of a past merger or accretion event. In any case, it is clear that globally averaged kinematics are bound to miss potentially significant and complex radial variations within a GC system. Any arguments about GC and galaxy formation and evolution that draw only on globally averaged rotation should be regarded in this light.

We have checked that excluding the aberrant metal-rich GCs does not lead to significant changes (no more than a few km s-1 for velocities, or degrees in $`\mathrm{\Theta }_0`$) in the derived kinematics of the full GC velocity sample, either in Table 3 or Figure Dynamics of the Globular Cluster System Associated with M49 (NGC 4472): Cluster Orbital Properties and the Distribution of Dark Matter11affiliation: Based on observations obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory which is operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy, a scientific partnership between the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.. It does, of course, alter the global rotation of the metal-rich GC sample from that quoted in Table Dynamics of the Globular Cluster System Associated with M49 (NGC 4472): Cluster Orbital Properties and the Distribution of Dark Matter11affiliation: Based on observations obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory which is operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy, a scientific partnership between the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration., and the revised numbers are given in Table 4 below (§5). Their exclusion also leaves too few GCs in the bin $`250\mathrm{}R<350\mathrm{}`$ to derive a reliable rotation solution there, which is why none is given in Table 3. However, the spatial sampling of points around an annulus at a given radius should not affect grossly the estimation of a velocity dispersion there, and thus the metal-rich $`\sigma _p(R)`$ profile in the bottom panel of Figure Dynamics of the Globular Cluster System Associated with M49 (NGC 4472): Cluster Orbital Properties and the Distribution of Dark Matter11affiliation: Based on observations obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory which is operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy, a scientific partnership between the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. (which excludes no data) is likely still reasonable enough—although the points between $`4\mathrm{}<R<6\mathrm{}`$ should obviously be regarded with due caution.

Finally, we plot in Figure Dynamics of the Globular Cluster System Associated with M49 (NGC 4472): Cluster Orbital Properties and the Distribution of Dark Matter11affiliation: Based on observations obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory which is operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy, a scientific partnership between the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. the absolute value of the ratio of rotation amplitude to velocity dispersion as a function of radius in the full GC system, the metal-poor subsystem, and the metal-rich sample. Note that the latter profile corresponds to the rotation solutions as obtained in the bottom panel of Figure Dynamics of the Globular Cluster System Associated with M49 (NGC 4472): Cluster Orbital Properties and the Distribution of Dark Matter11affiliation: Based on observations obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory which is operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy, a scientific partnership between the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration., rather than Figure Dynamics of the Globular Cluster System Associated with M49 (NGC 4472): Cluster Orbital Properties and the Distribution of Dark Matter11affiliation: Based on observations obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory which is operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy, a scientific partnership between the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.. For the metal-poor subsystem, a constant $`|\mathrm{\Omega }R|/\sigma _p0.3`$–0.4 could be taken as an adequate description, within the 1-$`\sigma `$ uncertainties, of the metal-poor GC data at all radii (except perhaps around $`7\mathrm{}30`$ kpc). Thus, as the low statistical significance of all the rotation amplitudes has already suggested, rotation is not an important source of dynamical support in the M49 GC system.

The weighted average for the full GC system, from either of Tables 3 or 4, is $`|\mathrm{\Omega }R|/\sigma _p`$ 0.15–0.2. A similar, though perhaps slightly higher, ratio also applies in the metal-poor GC system. And, with only the exception of the 10 extreme clusters at $`R23.2`$ kpc, the metal-rich GC system is consistent everywhere with $`|\mathrm{\Omega }R|/\sigma _p0.1`$–0.2. In the next section, we therefore explore the dynamics of the M49 GC system through a Jeans-equation analysis that ignores altogether the presence of rotation. Nowhere should this expose us to uncertainty or error at any more than a $``$10% level.

## 4 Dynamical Models

We make the simplifying assumption of spherical symmetry to proceed with a dynamical analysis based on the Jeans equation in the absence of rotation:

$$\frac{d}{dr}n_{\mathrm{cl}}(r)\sigma _r^2(r)+\frac{2\beta _{\mathrm{cl}}(r)}{r}n_{\mathrm{cl}}(r)\sigma _r^2(r)=n_{\mathrm{cl}}(r)\frac{GM_{\mathrm{tot}}(r)}{r^2}.$$
(6)
Here $`n_{\mathrm{cl}}(r)`$ is the three dimensional density profile of the GC system; $`\sigma _r(r)`$ is its intrinsic velocity dispersion in the radial direction; $`\beta _{\mathrm{cl}}(r)1\sigma _\theta ^2(r)/\sigma _r^2(r)`$ is a measure of its velocity anisotropy; and $`M_{\mathrm{tot}}(r)`$ is the total gravitating mass enclosed within a sphere of radius $`r`$.

Our analysis of the M49 GC system parallels that undertaken for M87 by Côté $`etal.`$(2001), and it differs from the approach normally taken in dynamical studies of extragalactic GC systems ($`e.g.,`$ Huchra & Brodie 1987; Mould $`etal.`$1990; Cohen & Ryzhov 1997; Sharples $`etal.`$1998; Kissler-Patig & Gebhardt 1998; Zepf $`etal.`$2000), in which the measured line-of-sight velocity dispersions are used to infer the deprojected profile $`\sigma _r(r)`$ so as to solve equation (6), under the assumption of orbital isotropy \[$`\beta _{\mathrm{cl}}(r)0`$\], for the gravitating mass distribution $`M_{\mathrm{tot}}(r)`$. We opt instead to determine a mass model for M49 and the Virgo B subcluster a priori (and independently of any GC data) and then to use this model, along with three-dimensional GC density profiles that fit published number counts, to solve equation (6) for the velocity dispersion profile $`\sigma _r(r)`$ under a variety of assumptions on the velocity anisotropy $`\beta _{\mathrm{cl}}(r)`$. These model profiles are then numerically projected for comparison with the observed $`\sigma _p(R)`$ profiles obtained in §3.2, in order to examine more directly what range of $`\beta _{\mathrm{cl}}(r)`$ is compatible with the data. (The observed dispersion profiles are still too noisy to be deprojected and used to solve directly for $`\beta _{\mathrm{cl}}(r)`$ with any confidence.) Romanowsky & Kochanek (2001) present an analysis of the M87 GC system that employs different methodology for the same basic goal.

For later reference, the relevant projection integrals are

$$\sigma _p^2(R)=\frac{2}{N_{\mathrm{cl}}(R)}_R^{\mathrm{}}n_{\mathrm{cl}}\sigma _r^2(r)\left(1\beta _{\mathrm{cl}}\frac{R^2}{r^2}\right)\frac{rdr}{\sqrt{r^2R^2}},$$
(7)
where the surface density profile $`N_{\mathrm{cl}}(R)`$ is related to the three-dimensional $`n_{\mathrm{cl}}(r)`$ by

$$N_{\mathrm{cl}}(R)=2_R^{\mathrm{}}n_{\mathrm{cl}}(r)\frac{rdr}{\sqrt{r^2R^2}}.$$
(8)
Throughout this Section, we discuss all distances, densities, masses, and luminosities in physical units that assume a distance of 15 Mpc to M49.

### 4.1 Density Profiles for the GC System

Figure Dynamics of the Globular Cluster System Associated with M49 (NGC 4472): Cluster Orbital Properties and the Distribution of Dark Matter11affiliation: Based on observations obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory which is operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy, a scientific partnership between the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. shows the projected number-density profiles, $`N_{\mathrm{cl}}(R)`$, for GCs of all colors (metallicities), taken from the comprehensive and independent studies of McLaughlin (1999a) and Rhode & Zepf (2001). These authors have already corrected the GC densities to remove contamination by foreground stars and background galaxies, and to account for GCs not directly counted because they are fainter than the limiting magnitudes of their surveys (this latter correction assumes the GC luminosity function, or number of clusters per unit magnitude, to have a Gaussian shape with a peak at $`V=23.75`$ mag and a dispersion $`\sigma =1.3`$ mag). Thus, the data points shown here genuinely reflect the total number of GCs per unit area on the sky as a function of projected radius in M49.

For use in equation (6), we treat both sets of data together as a single number-density profile, to which we fit the projections of two simple three-dimensional density functions. Shown as the bold, solid curve in Figure Dynamics of the Globular Cluster System Associated with M49 (NGC 4472): Cluster Orbital Properties and the Distribution of Dark Matter11affiliation: Based on observations obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory which is operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy, a scientific partnership between the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. is the best-fit projection of the density profile suggested by Navarro, Frenk, & White (1997) for dark-matter halos, i.e., $`n_{\mathrm{cl}}=n_0(r/b)^1(1+r/b)^2`$:

$$n_{\mathrm{cl}}(r)=0.19\mathrm{kpc}^3(r/11.7\mathrm{kpc})^1(1+r/11.7\mathrm{kpc})^2,$$
(9)
with (correlated) uncertainties of $`\pm 0.07\mathrm{kpc}^3`$ in the normalization and $`\pm 1.5`$ kpc in the scale radius

The bold, dashed line in Figure Dynamics of the Globular Cluster System Associated with M49 (NGC 4472): Cluster Orbital Properties and the Distribution of Dark Matter11affiliation: Based on observations obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory which is operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy, a scientific partnership between the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. shows the best-fit projection of one of the simple family of galaxy models developed by Dehnen (1993): $`n_{\mathrm{cl}}(r)=n_0(r/b)^\gamma (1+r/b)^{\gamma 4}`$. We assume $`\gamma =0`$ and find

$$n_{\mathrm{cl}}(r)=0.40\mathrm{kpc}^3(1+r/16.7\mathrm{kpc})^4,$$
(10)
with correlated uncertainties of $`\pm 0.16\mathrm{kpc}^3`$ in the normalization and $`\pm 2.3`$ kpc in the scale radius.

The reduced $`\chi ^2`$ values of these two fits are comparable. We prefer the Navarro $`etal.`$(NFW) form of equation (9), because the total baryonic mass density (stars and X-ray gas) at large radii in M49 appears to fall off roughly as $`r^3`$ (McLaughlin & Côté 2003), and we expect the GC system to follow this behavior (McLaughlin 1999a). However, the particular form of the density profile in equation (10) was chosen specifically for its contrasting asymptotic behavior at both small and large galactocentric radii; with it, we can check directly the extent to which the functional form of $`n_{\mathrm{cl}}(r)`$ used in the Jeans equation (6) might influence our conclusions on the GC dynamics.

We wish also to model the dynamics of the metal-poor and metal-rich GC subsystems separately. To define individual density profiles for them, we make use of the catalog of Lee $`etal.`$(1998), which includes positions and Washington $`(CT_1)`$ colors for $``$ 2000 GC candidates around M49. Although Lee $`etal.`$(1998) themselves presented separate density profiles for the metal-poor and metal-rich GCs, the criteria they used to divide their sample by color differ slightly from those adopted here, in §2.3. We therefore use their catalog directly to re-derive the surface density profiles of those objects with $`1(CT_1)<1.625`$ and $`1.625(CT_1)<2.25`$. We count only the points that are also brighter than $`T_123`$, to which magnitude the Lee $`etal.`$catalog is better than 97% complete. Because the catalog includes GCs only out to $`R8\mathrm{}`$ from the center of M49, whereas the full GC system is known to extend to $`R>20\mathrm{}`$ (Harris & Petrie 1978; Rhode & Zepf 2001), we are unable to measure directly the level of its contamination by stars and background galaxies. The exact choice of background is, however, constrained by the fact that the corrected number density profile for all colors $`1(CT_1)<2.25`$ should be consistent with the shape of $`N_{\mathrm{cl}}(R)`$ in Figure Dynamics of the Globular Cluster System Associated with M49 (NGC 4472): Cluster Orbital Properties and the Distribution of Dark Matter11affiliation: Based on observations obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory which is operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy, a scientific partnership between the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.. The total background density, to the limiting magnitude of $`T_1=23`$, estimated in this way is $`N_b2.0\pm 0.2`$ arcmin-2, or $`0.11\pm 0.01`$ kpc-2. We then assume that the contaminating backgrounds to be subtracted from the separate metal-poor and metal-rich GC density profiles are 60% and 40% of the total $`N_b`$. This 3:2 ratio is somewhat arbitrary, but it is consistent with that predicted by the IAS Galaxy model (Bahcall & Soneira 1980; Bahcall 1986) for foreground star counts to $`T_1=23`$, in our color ranges, in the direction towards M49.

Having thus obtained corrected, metal-poor and metal-rich GC surface density profiles, we fit each with projections of the same two three-dimensional functions that we fit to the full GC system. The results are shown in Figure Dynamics of the Globular Cluster System Associated with M49 (NGC 4472): Cluster Orbital Properties and the Distribution of Dark Matter11affiliation: Based on observations obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory which is operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy, a scientific partnership between the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.. The top panel presents fits of the NFW function, with an adopted background of $`N_b=2.2`$ arcmin-2. For the metal-poor and metal-rich GC samples in turn,

$`n_{\mathrm{cl}}^{\mathrm{MP}}(r)`$ $``$ $`(r/20.7\mathrm{kpc})^1(1+r/20.7\mathrm{kpc})^2`$
$`n_{\mathrm{cl}}^{\mathrm{MR}}(r)`$ $``$ $`(r/5.54\mathrm{kpc})^1(1+r/5.54\mathrm{kpc})^2.`$ (11)
The dashed curves running through the open datapoints in the top panel of Figure Dynamics of the Globular Cluster System Associated with M49 (NGC 4472): Cluster Orbital Properties and the Distribution of Dark Matter11affiliation: Based on observations obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory which is operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy, a scientific partnership between the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. are the projections of these functions. The bolder dashed curve is their sum; it agrees reasonably well both with the observed density profile of metal-poor and metal-rich GCs combined in the catalog of Lee $`etal.`$(1998) (filled circles), and with the NFW fit (eq. ; the bold, solid line) to the combined data of McLaughlin (1999a) and Rhode & Zepf (2001) in Figure Dynamics of the Globular Cluster System Associated with M49 (NGC 4472): Cluster Orbital Properties and the Distribution of Dark Matter11affiliation: Based on observations obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory which is operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy, a scientific partnership between the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration..

The bottom panel of Figure Dynamics of the Globular Cluster System Associated with M49 (NGC 4472): Cluster Orbital Properties and the Distribution of Dark Matter11affiliation: Based on observations obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory which is operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy, a scientific partnership between the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. shows our projected fits of the Dehnen (1993) density model to the metal-poor and metal-rich GC systems,

$`n_{\mathrm{cl}}^{\mathrm{MP}}(r)`$ $``$ $`(1+r/20.1\mathrm{kpc})^4`$
$`n_{\mathrm{cl}}^{\mathrm{MR}}(r)`$ $``$ $`(1+r/9.51\mathrm{kpc})^4,`$ (12)
where the adopted background in this case is $`N_b=1.9`$ arcmin-2. Again, the sum of the two fits is shown as the bold, dashed curve. It is fairly consistent with the observed total GC surface densities and with the Dehnen-model fit of equation (10).

Unlike the case for the full GC system in Figure Dynamics of the Globular Cluster System Associated with M49 (NGC 4472): Cluster Orbital Properties and the Distribution of Dark Matter11affiliation: Based on observations obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory which is operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy, a scientific partnership between the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration., we do not consider the density profiles for the GC metallicity subsample to be particularly well constrained. The limited spatial coverage of the Lee $`etal.`$catalog leaves much room for erroneous extrapolations to larger radii, and the lack of direct background density estimates makes the $`N_{\mathrm{cl}}(R)`$ estimates for the metal-poor and metal-rich subsystems too uncertain for our taste even at directly observed radii. It is nevertheless necessary to specify separate density profiles for the subsamples if their dynamics are to be modeled individually. Note that estimates of the absolute normalizations of $`n_{\mathrm{cl}}^{\mathrm{MP}}(r)`$ and $`n_{\mathrm{cl}}^{\mathrm{MR}}(r)`$ are not required in the following analysis, since these cancel out of equation (6).

### 4.2 The Need for an Extended Dark-Matter Halo in M49/Virgo B

Before going on to constrain the orbital parameters of the GCs in M49, we make a brief aside regarding the evidence for dark matter in M49 and the Virgo B subcluster around it, about which various claims have been made over the years. Mould $`etal.`$(1990) argued on the basis of radial velocities for 26 GCs that the galaxy does indeed contain a dark halo, but they were unable to rule out the possibility of a constant mass-to-light ratio due to their small velocity sample and the unknown orbital properties of the GCs. Working with a sample of 144 GC velocities, and assuming that GCs have isotropic orbits, Zepf $`etal.`$(2000) argued that the mass-to-light ratio at $``$ 30 kpc (2–2.5 $`R_{\mathrm{eff}}`$) is at least five times that at a distance of a few kpc, implying the presence of substantial dark matter on large spatial scales.

Irwin & Sarazin (1996) used ROSAT X-ray observations of the hot, gaseous corona around M49 to derive a mass profile for M49 extending to $`R100\mathrm{kpc}8R_{\mathrm{eff}}`$, leading them to conclude that dark matter must be present on spatial scales of $`R>R_{\mathrm{eff}}`$. Inside $`R10`$–15 kpc ($`R_{\mathrm{eff}}`$), however, Irwin & Sarazin found mass-to-light ratios that are perfectly compatible with the canonical stellar value in elliptical galaxies. Indeed, Brighenti & Mathews (1997) later decomposed Irwin & Sarazin’s (1996) mass distribution into separate stellar and dark-matter components (as we also do, in §4.3), and argued that any dark-matter halo must contribute negligibly to the total mass inside $`R<7.5\mathrm{kpc}0.5R_{\mathrm{eff}}`$.

Saglia $`etal.`$(1993) observed a flattening of the stellar velocity dispersion profile in M49 at a much smaller projected radius, $`R2`$$`3\mathrm{kpc}0.2R_{\mathrm{eff}}`$, and argued that this alone implied the presence of an dynamically dominant, extended dark-matter halo. However, the large scatter in independent measurements of the stellar kinematics beyond $`R>1.5`$ kpc (see, e.g., Caon, Macchetto & Pastoriza 2000) rather weakens the conclusion; and it is certainly possible to fit self-consistent galaxy models, containing no dark matter, to the stellar kinematics if no other data are considered (e.g., Kronawitter $`etal.`$2000).

Our improved GC velocity dispersion profile from §3 can be used to look at this issue again. We consider the hypothesis that light directly traces mass in M49, so that $`M_{\mathrm{tot}}(r)`$ in equation (6) comes from integrating the stellar luminosity density profile and multiplying by a constant, stellar mass-to-light ratio. We fit the surface brightness profile of the galaxy taken from Kim $`etal.`$(2000) — converted from their Washington $`T_1`$ photometry to Cousins $`R`$-band according to the relation of Geisler (1996) — with the projection of the three-dimensional luminosity density profile,

$$j(r)=\frac{(3\gamma )(72\gamma )}{4}\frac{L_{\mathrm{tot}}}{\pi a^3}\left(\frac{r}{a}\right)^\gamma \left[1+\left(\frac{r}{a}\right)^{1/2}\right]^{2(\gamma 4)}.$$
(13)
This slight modification of the models of Dehnen (1993) allows for a more gradual transition from the inner power-law behavior, $`jr^\gamma `$, to the asymptotic $`jr^4`$ at large radii.

The projected best fit of equation (13) to the surface-brightness data of Kim $`etal.`$(1998) is shown in the left panel of Figure Dynamics of the Globular Cluster System Associated with M49 (NGC 4472): Cluster Orbital Properties and the Distribution of Dark Matter11affiliation: Based on observations obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory which is operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy, a scientific partnership between the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.. For comparison, we also plot the surface brightness profile measured by Caon, Capaccioli, & D’Onofrio (1994), converted from $`B`$-band to Cousins $`R`$. The fit has parameters $`\gamma =0.7`$, $`a=2.82`$ kpc, and $`L_{\mathrm{tot}}=1.40\times 10^{11}L_{R,}`$. It is from this model that we derive a (projected) effective radius of $`R_{\mathrm{eff}}=3\stackrel{}{\mathrm{.}}113.5`$ kpc for M49. Our measurement of the galaxy’s effective radius is intermediate to the values of $`R_{\mathrm{eff}}=3\stackrel{}{\mathrm{.}}8`$ found by Caon $`etal.`$(1994) and that of Kim $`etal.`$(2000), who obtained $`R_{\mathrm{eff}}=2\stackrel{}{\mathrm{.}}0`$ by fitting a de Vaucouleurs law to the same data analyzed here. While the precise value of $`R_{\mathrm{eff}}`$ itself has no bearing on our conclusions, we note that the surface brightness profile of M49 is not well described by a de Vaucouleurs law, which is why Kim $`etal.`$(2000) restricted their fit to the region $`7^{\prime \prime }<R<260^{\prime \prime }`$. As their Figure 8 shows, the fitted model falls well below the measured brightness profile for $`R260^{\prime \prime }`$, leading to likely underestimates of the galaxy’s total luminosity and effective radius.

The right panel of Figure Dynamics of the Globular Cluster System Associated with M49 (NGC 4472): Cluster Orbital Properties and the Distribution of Dark Matter11affiliation: Based on observations obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory which is operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy, a scientific partnership between the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. illustrates the three-dimensional stellar mass density profile, $`\rho _\mathrm{s}(r)=\mathrm{{\rm Y}}_0j(r)`$, with $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}_0`$ the $`R`$-band mass-to-light ratio. We take its value from McLaughlin & Côté (2003), who show that the stellar kinematics at projected radii $`0.1R1`$ kpc in M49 are best fit by a mass model with no dark matter if $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}_0=5.9M_{}L_{R,}^1`$ and the velocity ellipsoid of the stellar distribution is slightly radially biased: $`\beta _\mathrm{s}=0.3`$. We note that this mass-to-light ratio corresponds to a $`B`$-band value of $`8.1M_{}L_{B,}^1`$, typical of the cores of elliptical galaxies, and that this constant-$`M/L`$ mass model is very similar to the self-consistent galaxy model of Kronawitter $`etal.`$(2000).

We are examining here the hypothesis that light traces mass, and thus the total mass profile to be used in the Jeans equation is just the stellar mass

$$M_\mathrm{s}(r)=\mathrm{{\rm Y}}_0_0^r4\pi x^2j(x)𝑑x=\mathrm{{\rm Y}}_0L_{\mathrm{tot}}\left[\frac{(r/a)^{1/2}}{1+(r/a)^{1/2}}\right]^{2(3\gamma )}\left[\frac{(72\gamma )+(r/a)^{1/2}}{1+(r/a)^{1/2}}\right],$$
(14)
where, again, $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}_0`$ is independent of radius in the galaxy and has a value of $`5.9M_{}L_{R,}^1`$ when no additional dark-matter component is invoked. Taking $`M_{\mathrm{tot}}(r)=M_\mathrm{s}(r)`$, then, we solve equation (6) for the intrinsic radial velocity dispersion profile of the stars in M49 by replacing $`n_{\mathrm{cl}}(r)`$ with $`\rho _\mathrm{s}(r)j(r)`$ from equation (13), and by substituting $`\beta _\mathrm{s}(r)+0.3`$ (McLaughlin & Côté 2003) for $`\beta _{\mathrm{cl}}(r)`$. The projection integrals of equations (7) and (8) are then applied — again with $`j(r)`$ in place of $`n_{\mathrm{cl}}(r)`$ — to predict the stellar line-of-sight velocity dispersion in the absence of an extended dark-matter halo around M49.

This model is shown as a bold, dotted line in Figure Dynamics of the Globular Cluster System Associated with M49 (NGC 4472): Cluster Orbital Properties and the Distribution of Dark Matter11affiliation: Based on observations obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory which is operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy, a scientific partnership between the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration., where it is compared with the stellar kinematic data of Davies & Birkinshaw (1988), Saglia $`etal.`$(1993), and Caon $`etal.`$(2000). It does a respectable job of reproducing the observed velocity dispersions between $`0.1<R<8`$ kpc.444The failure of the model stellar $`\sigma _p(R)`$ to describe the data at $`R<0.1`$ kpc reflects a poor fit of equation (13) to the observed surface brightness profile at $`R<2\mathrm{}`$ in M49; a likely departure of the stellar anisotropy from the average radial bias $`\beta _\mathrm{s}(r)=0.3`$; and the influence of the nuclear black hole ($`M_{}5\times 10^8M_{}`$; Merritt & Ferrarese 2001) at radii $`R<30`$ pc. No attempt was made to model these effects in detail, as the complexity in the inner 100 pc of the galaxy has no bearing on the larger-scale dynamics of interest to us here. Although the success relies in part on the considerable scatter among the different datasets at $`R>1`$ kpc, the main point is that the stellar kinematics in M49, by themselves, provide no conclusive evidence for the existence of any extended and massive dark-matter halo.

The bold, solid line in Figure Dynamics of the Globular Cluster System Associated with M49 (NGC 4472): Cluster Orbital Properties and the Distribution of Dark Matter11affiliation: Based on observations obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory which is operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy, a scientific partnership between the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. traces the line-of-sight velocity dispersion profile $`\sigma _p(R)`$ derived from equations (6)–(8) for the full GC system, when the constant-$`M/L`$ mass model of equation (14) is adopted, the GC density profile is modeled by the NFW form for $`n_{\mathrm{cl}}(r)`$ (eq. ), and orbital isotropy \[$`\beta _{\mathrm{cl}}(r)0`$\] is assumed. It fails by a wide margin to describe the observed dispersion profile of the GCs, which is taken from the top panel of Figure Dynamics of the Globular Cluster System Associated with M49 (NGC 4472): Cluster Orbital Properties and the Distribution of Dark Matter11affiliation: Based on observations obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory which is operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy, a scientific partnership between the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.. The bold, short-dashed line is the expected $`\sigma _p(R)`$ profile under the same main assumptions but taking the GC density profile to be the Dehnen-model fit of equation (10). The lighter, long-dashed lines revert to the NFW GC density profile but assume strongly radially and tangentially biased GC velocity ellipsoids (upper and lower curves). None of these alternate models fares any better in accounting for the observed GC velocity dispersion at $`R>6\mathrm{kpc}0.4`$$`0.5R_{\mathrm{eff}}`$. Evidently, the mass-to-light ratio must increase with galactocentric radius if the high velocity dispersion of the GCs is to be understood.

Regardless of any assumptions on its velocity anisotropy or uncertainties in its spatial distribution, the globular cluster system alone therefore provides incontrovertible evidence, independent of any X-ray data, for the presence of an extended dark-matter halo around M49. It is worth emphasizing that the GC data alone are unambiguous on this point for spatial scales $`R<R_{\mathrm{eff}}`$.

### 4.3 Total Mass Profile of M49/Virgo B

Having established the presence of a dark-matter halo around M49, we briefly describe a model for it that is developed and discussed in detail by McLaughlin & Côté (2003). The model is constructed to match the available stellar kinematics and X-ray data in M49/Virgo B. It makes no reference to any aspect of the GC system, and it can thus be used as one of two components contributing to $`M_{\mathrm{tot}}(r)`$ in the Jeans equation (the other being the luminous component of §4.2) as a constraint on the velocity anisotropy of the GC system.

McLaughlin & Côté (2003) consider a variety of possible analytic descriptions for the dark-matter density profile in M49/Virgo B. Among these, the “universal” halo profile of Navarro $`etal.`$(1997), $`\rho _{\mathrm{dm}}=K(r/r_s)^1(1+r/r_s)^2`$ (cf. eqs.  and ), is one that provides a good match to all available data. We therefore adopt this form here, to specify

$$M_{\mathrm{dm}}(r)=_0^r4\pi x^2\rho _{\mathrm{dm}}(x)𝑑x=4\pi Kr_s^3\left[\mathrm{ln}\left(1+\frac{r}{r_s}\right)\frac{r/r_s}{1+r/r_s}\right].$$
(15)
The mass $`M_{\mathrm{tot}}(r)`$ interior to any (three-dimensional) radius $`r`$ is then the sum of $`M_{\mathrm{dm}}(r)`$ and $`M_\mathrm{s}(r)`$ from equation (14). The unknown parameters in the total mass profile are the dark-matter density normalization $`K`$ and scale length $`r_s`$, and the stellar mass-to-light ratio $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}_0`$. McLaughlin & Côté fix these by first constraining the total $`R`$-band mass-to-light ratio at a radius $`r=1`$ kpc: $`M_{\mathrm{tot}}(r1\mathrm{kpc})/L(r1\mathrm{kpc})=5.9M_{}L_{R,}^1`$, thereby guaranteeing that the final model will adequately reproduce the observed stellar kinematics in the core of M49 (cf. §4.2). This leaves only two independent parameters in the mass model, and these are fit by comparing to the X-ray mass measurements of Irwin & Sarazin (1996) and Schindler $`etal.`$(1999).555The total mass in X-ray gas within a sphere of radius $`r`$ = 100 kpc centered on M49 is only $``$ 1/15 the mass in stars and $``$ 1/200 that in dark matter, so the gas mass itself is negligible. As it turns out, though, the X-ray gas traces the dark-matter distribution throughout M49/Virgo B (McLaughlin & Côté 2003), so its contribution to the overall mass budget is actually included in the normalization of $`M_{\mathrm{dm}}(r)`$.

The best-fit mass model with an NFW halo is drawn as a bold, solid line in Figure Dynamics of the Globular Cluster System Associated with M49 (NGC 4472): Cluster Orbital Properties and the Distribution of Dark Matter11affiliation: Based on observations obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory which is operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy, a scientific partnership between the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.. The lighter, dashed line is the mass profile of the dark-matter halo alone, given by equation (15) with $`K=1.12\times 10^3M_{}\mathrm{pc}`$ and $`r_s=196`$ kpc. The light, dotted line is the stellar mass distribution of equation (14) with a fitted $`R`$-band stellar mass-to-light ratio $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}_0=5.7M_{}L_{R,}^1`$ (and the galaxy parameters $`\gamma `$, $`a`$, and $`L_{\mathrm{tot}}`$ already fixed by the fit to the surface brightness profile in Figure Dynamics of the Globular Cluster System Associated with M49 (NGC 4472): Cluster Orbital Properties and the Distribution of Dark Matter11affiliation: Based on observations obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory which is operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy, a scientific partnership between the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.). Explicitly, then, our final model for M49/Virgo B is:

$`M_{\mathrm{tot}}(r)`$ $`=`$ $`M_\mathrm{s}(r)+M_{\mathrm{dm}}(r)`$
$`M_\mathrm{s}(r)`$ $`=`$ $`7.98\times 10^{11}M_{}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{(r/2.82\mathrm{kpc})^{1/2}}{1+(r/2.82\mathrm{kpc})^{1/2}}}\right]^{4.6}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{5.6+(r/2.82\mathrm{kpc})^{1/2}}{1+(r/2.82\mathrm{kpc})^{1/2}}}\right]`$ (16)
$`M_{\mathrm{dm}}(r)`$ $`=`$ $`1.06\times 10^{14}M_{}\left[\mathrm{ln}(1+r/196\mathrm{kpc}){\displaystyle \frac{(r/196\mathrm{kpc})}{(1+r/196\mathrm{kpc})}}\right].`$
Note that the X-ray masses interior to $`r<10`$–15 kpc in M49 are fully consistent with the mass of the stellar component alone there — although they clearly do not require the complete absence of any dark matter at the center of the galaxy, this component does not begin to dominate the total mass budget until $`r>20\mathrm{kpc}1.5R_{\mathrm{eff}}`$. Again, it is the GC velocity data that show the clearest evidence on smaller spatial scales for the presence of a massive dark halo.

### 4.4 Velocity Isotropy in the GC System

Figure Dynamics of the Globular Cluster System Associated with M49 (NGC 4472): Cluster Orbital Properties and the Distribution of Dark Matter11affiliation: Based on observations obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory which is operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy, a scientific partnership between the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. plots the stellar and GC velocity dispersion data as Figure Dynamics of the Globular Cluster System Associated with M49 (NGC 4472): Cluster Orbital Properties and the Distribution of Dark Matter11affiliation: Based on observations obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory which is operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy, a scientific partnership between the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. did, but now with model curves computed using $`M_{\mathrm{tot}}(r)`$ given by equation (16) rather than $`M_\mathrm{s}(r)`$ alone. The mass model was constructed by requiring, in part, that it agree with the stellar kinematics, and the bold, dotted curve in Figure Dynamics of the Globular Cluster System Associated with M49 (NGC 4472): Cluster Orbital Properties and the Distribution of Dark Matter11affiliation: Based on observations obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory which is operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy, a scientific partnership between the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. verifies that this is the case. It is worth noting that our model — which now includes the dark-matter halo that the GC data show must be present — favors the stellar data of Davies & Birkinshaw (1988) and Saglia $`etal.`$(1993) over those of Caon $`etal.`$(2000) (the small, open squares that scatter well below the dotted curve in the Figure). The bold, solid line in this plot is the velocity dispersion profile predicted for the full GC system if its three-dimensional density profile $`n_{\mathrm{cl}}(r)`$ in equations (6)–(8) is given by the NFW functional fit of equation (9), and if velocity isotropy, $`\beta _{\mathrm{cl}}(r)0`$, is assumed. The excellent agreement between this model curve and the GC data over the full range $`6<R<30`$ kpc implies that the assumption of isotropy is, in fact, essentially correct.

The bold, dashed line in Figure Dynamics of the Globular Cluster System Associated with M49 (NGC 4472): Cluster Orbital Properties and the Distribution of Dark Matter11affiliation: Based on observations obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory which is operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy, a scientific partnership between the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. is the model $`\sigma _p(R)`$ for the GC system if its density profile is taken from the alternate, Dehnen-model fit of equation (10). Isotropy is still assumed. This model also compares favorably with the data, falling within the 68% confidence interval around the $`\sigma _p`$ estimate at almost every point. We note again that we prefer on other grounds the shallower extrapolation of the NFW density profile for the GC system, over the steeper fall-off of the Dehnen profile (see §4.1). However, the present comparison of the models shows that our inference of velocity isotropy in the M49 GC system does not rely on this particular choice.

Figure Dynamics of the Globular Cluster System Associated with M49 (NGC 4472): Cluster Orbital Properties and the Distribution of Dark Matter11affiliation: Based on observations obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory which is operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy, a scientific partnership between the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. gives a close-up view of the comparison between the velocity dispersion data and a number of models for the full GC system. The top panel shows the same data as Figures Dynamics of the Globular Cluster System Associated with M49 (NGC 4472): Cluster Orbital Properties and the Distribution of Dark Matter11affiliation: Based on observations obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory which is operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy, a scientific partnership between the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration., Dynamics of the Globular Cluster System Associated with M49 (NGC 4472): Cluster Orbital Properties and the Distribution of Dark Matter11affiliation: Based on observations obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory which is operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy, a scientific partnership between the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration., and Dynamics of the Globular Cluster System Associated with M49 (NGC 4472): Cluster Orbital Properties and the Distribution of Dark Matter11affiliation: Based on observations obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory which is operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy, a scientific partnership between the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration., along with the usual 68% and 95% confidence bands. The bottom panel shows the projected aperture dispersion profile, i.e., the velocity dispersion of all objects interior to a given projected radius $`R`$, rather than just those in a narrower annulus. For a model, this cumulative spatial average of $`\sigma _p(R)`$ is defined by

$$\sigma _{\mathrm{ap}}^2(R)=\left[_{R_{\mathrm{min}}}^RN_{\mathrm{cl}}(R^{})\sigma _p^2(R^{})R^{}𝑑R^{}\right]\left[_{R_{\mathrm{min}}}^RN_{\mathrm{cl}}(R^{})R^{}𝑑R^{}\right]^1,$$
(17)
with $`R_{\mathrm{min}}`$ the projected galactocentric radius of the innermost datapoint in a velocity sample ($`R_{\mathrm{min}}=1.9`$ kpc for us). Although the interpretation of the coarsely averaged $`\sigma _{\mathrm{ap}}`$ profile can be subtler than that of the differential profile $`\sigma _p(R)`$, it has the significant advantage of reduced noise at large $`R`$.

The bold, solid line in the top panel of Figure Dynamics of the Globular Cluster System Associated with M49 (NGC 4472): Cluster Orbital Properties and the Distribution of Dark Matter11affiliation: Based on observations obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory which is operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy, a scientific partnership between the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. is the same as that in Figure Dynamics of the Globular Cluster System Associated with M49 (NGC 4472): Cluster Orbital Properties and the Distribution of Dark Matter11affiliation: Based on observations obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory which is operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy, a scientific partnership between the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.: the predicted $`\sigma _p(R)`$ profile for the full GC system in the mass distribution of equation (16), if $`n_{\mathrm{cl}}(r)`$ is given by the NFW profile of equation (9) and $`\beta _{\mathrm{cl}}(r)0`$. The same curve in the bottom panel is just the result of averaging this model profile with equation (17). The bold, short-dashed curves in the two panels of the Figure are analogous to the solid lines but assume the Dehnen-model density profile of equation (10) for the full GC system. The lighter, long-dashed curves assume the NFW profile for $`n_{\mathrm{cl}}(r)`$ and show predictions for velocity anisotropies ranging from extreme radial bias to extreme tangential bias: from top to bottom, $`\beta _{\mathrm{cl}}=1\sigma _\theta ^2/\sigma _r^2=0.99`$, 0.5, $``$1, and $``$99. These anisotropies are included in the models as spatially constant, so that the curves corresponding to them should be viewed as representative of more realistic, spatially varying functions $`\beta _{\mathrm{cl}}(r)`$ which average out to the constants that we have specified.

The close adherence of the isotropic models to the GC data is striking, particularly in the case of the aperture dispersion profile. The spatial averaging involved there effectively blurs local, apparently noise-driven features in the differential $`\sigma _p(R)`$ data (e.g., the bump around $`R22`$ kpc), such that the $`\sigma _{\mathrm{ap}}`$ data never stray substantially from the predictions of isotropy for either assumed density profile $`n_{\mathrm{cl}}(r)`$. The possibility of even modestly radial or tangential average anisotropy (i.e., $`\beta _{\mathrm{cl}}=0.5`$ or $``$1) can be ruled out at the 95% confidence level or better in the full GC system.

Aside from its intrinsic importance for models of GC formation and evolution, the finding of such a high degree of consistency with velocity isotropy in the full GC system could be of practical use for measurements of the gravitating mass profiles in other early-type galaxies, where data may not be available in the variety and quality required for the type of modeling that we described in §4.3. M49 is now the second galaxy (the other being M87) in which we have been able to show by direct means that an isotropic velocity ellipsoid is a highly accurate description of the GC kinematics. The assumption of isotropy in other GC systems may therefore be much better justified than before, making it possible to use the Jeans equation (6) with $`\beta _{\mathrm{cl}}(r)0`$ — provided that $`n_{\mathrm{cl}}(r)`$ is also well known — to derive $`M_{\mathrm{tot}}(r)`$ from a set of velocity-dispersion measurements.

Finally, we construct dynamical models for the metal-poor and metal-rich GC subsystems separately. This is a somewhat riskier proposition, given the noisier dispersion profiles of these smaller datasets and the much poorer characterization of the density profiles $`n_{\mathrm{cl}}^{\mathrm{MP}}(r)`$ and $`n_{\mathrm{cl}}^{\mathrm{MR}}(r)`$ (Figure Dynamics of the Globular Cluster System Associated with M49 (NGC 4472): Cluster Orbital Properties and the Distribution of Dark Matter11affiliation: Based on observations obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory which is operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy, a scientific partnership between the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. in §4.1). With these caveats in mind, we compare the observed and predicted velocity dispersion profiles for the metal-poor and metal-rich GCs in Figures Dynamics of the Globular Cluster System Associated with M49 (NGC 4472): Cluster Orbital Properties and the Distribution of Dark Matter11affiliation: Based on observations obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory which is operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy, a scientific partnership between the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. and Dynamics of the Globular Cluster System Associated with M49 (NGC 4472): Cluster Orbital Properties and the Distribution of Dark Matter11affiliation: Based on observations obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory which is operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy, a scientific partnership between the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.. The various curves in these figures have meanings analogous to those in Figure Dynamics of the Globular Cluster System Associated with M49 (NGC 4472): Cluster Orbital Properties and the Distribution of Dark Matter11affiliation: Based on observations obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory which is operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy, a scientific partnership between the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.. The bold, solid curves assume orbital isotropy and adopt the NFW fits for the density profiles of the subsystems (eq. ), while the bold, short-dashed curves assume isotropy and the Dehnen-model density profiles of equation (12). The light, long-dashed curves assume NFW density profiles and spatially constant anisotropies $`\beta _{\mathrm{cl}}=0.99`$, 0.5, $``$1, and $``$99.

The isotropic NFW density-model curve in Figure Dynamics of the Globular Cluster System Associated with M49 (NGC 4472): Cluster Orbital Properties and the Distribution of Dark Matter11affiliation: Based on observations obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory which is operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy, a scientific partnership between the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. provides quite an acceptable description of the observed $`\sigma _p(R)`$ of the metal-poor globulars until radii $`R>20`$–25 kpc, where the subsequent rise in the data might suggest a move to a slight radial bias in the GC orbits. However, the model remains within the 68% confidence bands on the measurements nearly until $`R30`$ kpc, the limit of reliability. The observed $`\sigma _{\mathrm{ap}}`$ data in the bottom panel adhere more closely to the isotropic curve at still larger radii. The model assuming a Dehnen-type density profile for the metal-poor GC system gives a stronger suggestion of radial velocity anisotropy,666Given a fixed, observed velocity dispersion for a tracer population in a fixed gravitational potential, a steeper density profile always implies a more radial anisotropy through the Jeans equation. although the isotropic case is still barely consistent (within the 95% confidence bands) with the observed profile. Because of the increased noise in the measured dispersions and, more importantly, the poorly constrained density profile, it is difficult to draw any firm conclusions on the orbital properties of the metal-poor GCs, beyond the obvious: (1) the hypothesis of isotropy is not far wrong, particularly at small galactocentric distances $`R<20\mathrm{kpc}1.5R_{\mathrm{eff}}`$; and (2) any possible radial bias present at larger projected radii is likely to be modest.

An assessment of the orbital properties of the metal-rich GCs is necessarily more difficult. Not only is the extrapolation of their observed density profile very uncertain, but the difficulties posed by the 10 rapidly rotating objects concentrated around $`R23.2`$ kpc, as discussed in §3.2, leave little in the way of data that can be compared reliably with any model. The top panel shows our smoothed velocity-dispersion profile from Figure Dynamics of the Globular Cluster System Associated with M49 (NGC 4472): Cluster Orbital Properties and the Distribution of Dark Matter11affiliation: Based on observations obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory which is operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy, a scientific partnership between the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration., with those parts relying on any GC velocities from within $`302\mathrm{}R337\mathrm{}`$ excised. The most that can be said is that, at $`RR_{\mathrm{eff}}=13.5`$ kpc, the data are once again consistent with velocity isotropy, regardless of which GC density profile $`n_{\mathrm{cl}}^{\mathrm{MR}}(r)`$ is assumed. Beyond this, however, the steep drop in $`\sigma _p(R)`$ appears unsupportable in any dynamical model that we have constructed. It is true that the outer-radius data point suggests some return to understandable behavior in the metal-rich GC system ($`i.e.`$, 1-$`\sigma `$ consistency with isotropy for either $`n_{\mathrm{cl}}^{\mathrm{MR}}(r)`$ profile), but the trend of the cumulative $`\sigma _{\mathrm{ap}}(R)`$ profile (towards model curves suggesting a strong tangential bias in the orbital distribution) also suggests that the low velocity dispersion may be problematic.

If the full GC system is perfectly isotropic, and the metal-poor component is fairly closely so, then it stands to reason that the metal-rich GC system should be close to isotropic as well. Thus, its behavior beyond $`1R_{\mathrm{eff}}`$ needs to be much better understood empirically before any dynamical sense can be made of it. We noted in §3 (see, e.g., Figure Dynamics of the Globular Cluster System Associated with M49 (NGC 4472): Cluster Orbital Properties and the Distribution of Dark Matter11affiliation: Based on observations obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory which is operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy, a scientific partnership between the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.) that the low velocity dispersion of the metal-rich GCs is the manifestation of an absence of red objects with $`v_p>1500`$ km s-1 from our velocity survey, and a corresponding lack of metal-rich GCs with $`v_p<700`$ km s-1 outside about one effective radius in the galaxy. It would be useful to know whether these are artifacts of our particular sample or indicative of something more profound. For instance, a velocity dispersion $`\sigma _p<250`$ km s-1 at galactocentric radii $`R>R_{\mathrm{eff}}`$ is even lower than we would expect for the stellar light of M49 (cf. Figure Dynamics of the Globular Cluster System Associated with M49 (NGC 4472): Cluster Orbital Properties and the Distribution of Dark Matter11affiliation: Based on observations obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory which is operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy, a scientific partnership between the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.). Very closely related to this issue is the density profile of the metal-rich GC system, which will have to be defined reliably out to much larger radii than we have been able to do with existing databases. Even the Dehnen-model density profile that we explored here, with its behavior $`n_{\mathrm{cl}}r^4`$ at large $`r`$, predicts GC kinematics that seem considerably too “hot” compared with the metal-rich data. Either current radial velocity surveys have missed a number of high-velocity, metal-rich GCs at large galactocentric radii — perhaps due to some observational bias or simple bad luck — or the density of metal-rich GCs system falls very rapidly indeed to zero beyond several tens of kpc. Deep, wide-field imaging in a metallicity-sensitive filter combination can directly address the latter possibility, and it will be essential to developing any deeper understanding of GC dynamics in M49.

## 5 Comparing M49, M87, M31 and the Milky Way

A direct comparison between the kinematic and dynamic properties of GCs in M49 and M87 seems in order, given the similarity in the respective datasets and the methods of analysis. In fact, the GC radial velocities now amassed for these galaxies constitute the two largest radial velocity samples yet assembled for pure Population II tracers in early-type galaxies.

It is worth bearing in mind that that the GC systems of these two galaxies are similar in many respects. For instance, both have bimodal metallicity distributions, with peaks at \[Fe/H\] $`1.5`$ and $``$0.3 dex. The ratio of the number of metal poor to metal rich GCs is very nearly the same in both galaxies. The GC formation efficiencies for the composite GC systems and the two subsystems are quite similar in both cases ($`e.g.`$, McLaughlin 1999a; Côté 2003). Likewise, the measured ages of the metal-poor and metal-rich GCs suggest that they are — on the whole — old and roughly coeval (Cohen $`etal.`$1998; Puzia $`etal.`$1999; Beasley $`etal.`$2000; Jordán $`etal.`$2002; cf. Kundu $`etal.`$1999 and Lee & Kim 2000).

To some extent, this similarity extends to the dynamical properties of the two GC systems. Most notably, in both M49 and in M87, the full GC system has an almost perfectly isotropic velocity dispersion tensor ($`e.g.`$, compare Figure Dynamics of the Globular Cluster System Associated with M49 (NGC 4472): Cluster Orbital Properties and the Distribution of Dark Matter11affiliation: Based on observations obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory which is operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy, a scientific partnership between the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. above with Figure 13 of Côté $`etal.`$2001). There are, nevertheless, some clear differences in the overall GC kinematics between the two galaxies. For instance, the metal-poor and metal-rich subsystems in M87 share an essentially identical projected velocity dispersion, while in M49, the metal-rich GC sample appears to be significantly colder than the metal-poor component.

Table 4 summarizes the global kinematic properties of the two GC systems. Note that the results for M87 differ slightly from those presented in Côté $`etal.`$(2001) since we have re-computed the various kinematic properties after fixing the systemic velocity of each GC subsample at the velocity of M87 ($`v_{\mathrm{gal}}=1277\pm 2`$ km s-1; van der Marel 1994), identical to the approach taken in §3 for M49. In addition, we have re-calculated the global quantities for the full GC system and the metal-rich component in M49, after removing the 10 rapidly rotating, metal-rich GCs at 22 $`<R<`$ 24.5 kpc.

As Table 4 shows, it is in their rotation properties that obvious differences between the two systems appear. In M87, both the metal-poor and metal-rich GC subsystems show relatively rapid rotation, with $`\mathrm{\Omega }R/\sigma _{p,r}0.45`$. In M49, however, rotation is somewhat more modest among the metal-poor GCs ($`\mathrm{\Omega }R/\sigma _{p,r}=0.27`$), and it is very weak indeed in the metal-rich GC system ($`\mathrm{\Omega }R/\sigma _{p,r}`$ of order 0.1 and consistent with 0). The orientation of the rotation axes in the two systems is also noteworthy. In M87, the metal-rich GCs are found to rotate, at all radii, about the galaxy’s minor axis. This is also true of the metal-poor GCs beyond $`R2R_{\mathrm{eff}}`$ in that galaxy, but inside this radius, the metal-poor GCs in M87 show major-axis rotation (see Table 4, and Côté $`etal.`$2001). In M49, the metal-poor GCs are consistent with minor-axis rotation inside $`R<2R_{\mathrm{eff}}`$ and suggest a possible transition to major-axis rotation outside that radius. Interestingly, the position angles for the rotation axes of the stellar light in M87 and M49 are found to be $`\mathrm{\Theta }_0=23\pm 10^{}`$ and $`59\pm 3^{}`$, respectively (Davies & Birkinshaw 1988). Thus, to within the measurement errors, and over the range where the GC and stellar data overlap, the metal-poor GCs in both cases seem to trace the rotation of the underlying galaxy. It would be interesting to extend the stellar kinematic measurements to larger radii, to see if this trend continues, i.e., if the stellar rotation axis also “flips” by 90 in M87 especially.777At present, the best stellar kinematic data for M87 (Sembach & Tonry 1996) extend only to about $`1.5R_{\mathrm{eff}}`$. At $`2R_{\mathrm{eff}}`$, the surface brightness of the galaxy is $`\mu _V23.6`$ mag arcsec-2, well within the range of modern long-slit spectrographs on large telescopes. Finally, at the radii in M87 where the metal-poor and metal-rich GCs both rotate about the minor axis, they do so in the same direction. By contrast, there is some evidence that the metal-rich GC system of M49 may rotate counter to the metal-poor one. We caution that this result is of low statistical significance, as we have a sample of only $``$ 100 red GCs spread over an order-of-magnitude range in galactocentric position, but it clearly merits further attention.

These differences between the GC systems of M49 and M87 become all the more puzzling when one considers the results for the GC systems of late-type galaxies. To date, in only two spiral galaxies have samples of a hundred or more GC velocities been accumulated: the Milky Way and M31. In the former case, $`\mathrm{\Omega }R/\sigma =0.56\pm 0.15`$ for the GC system as a whole, and $`\mathrm{\Omega }R/\sigma =0.32\pm 0.20`$ and $`1.05\pm 0.28`$ for the metal-poor and metal-rich subsystems (Côté 1999). In M31, the global value for all GCs is $`\mathrm{\Omega }R/\sigma =0.88\pm 0.09`$, with the metal-poor and metal-rich subsystems having $`\mathrm{\Omega }R/\sigma =`$ $`0.85\pm 0.09`$ and $`1.10\pm 0.16`$ (Perrett $`etal.`$2002). Based on this very small sample, it seems that rotation may be more important for the GC systems of disk galaxies than for those of ellipticals. Clearly, however, the four GC systems show considerable diversity in their rotational properties. It seems that the lone common feature among the GC systems of these four galaxies is the tendency for the metal-poor GCs to form a rotating population, albeit with widely varying levels of dynamical importance ($`i.e.`$, the percentage of total kinetic energy stored in rotation varies by more than an order of magnitude, from $`3\%`$ in M49 to $`40\%`$ for M31). Furthermore, the metal-rich GCs of M87, M31, and the Milky Way also form rotating populations with $`\mathrm{\Omega }R/\sigma `$ ratios that are equal to or greater than those of their metal-poor counterparts. In this regard, the metal-rich GC subsystem in M49 may be something of an anomaly — although such a conclusion may be premature given the current data.

The kinematic properties of the GC systems studied to date undoubtedly contain important clues to the formation histories of their parent galaxies, although the full implications at this point remain unclear. Nevertheless, it seems that the traditional picture of GC systems as non-rotating, or slowly rotating, entities — a view that can be traced to the slow rotation exhibited by halo GCs outside of the central few kpc in the Milky Way — may be in need of revision. The net GC rotation detected in an ever-increasing number of galaxies, which we speculate may be a common property of GC systems, probably reflects the outcome of a complex interplay between any number of processes that could have shaped the observed GC velocity fields: tidal torques from neighboring galaxies, spin-up during gravitational collapse, angular momentum transfer and energy dissipation during gaseous mergers, and the conversion of orbital angular momentum to rotation during gas-poor mergers and accretions. The extraction of quantitative predictions for GC dynamics from models of these processes will be a challenging task — as will be the complete and accurate empirical characterization of kinematics to test those predictions.

## 6 Summary

We have reported radial velocities for 196 GCs associated with M49, the brightest member of the Virgo cluster. Combining these velocities with previously published measurements brings the total number of GCs with measured radial velocities to 263. This sample is comparable to that assembled recently for M87 (Hanes $`etal.`$2001) in terms of size, spatial coverage, velocity precision, and the availability of metallicities from Washington photometry. Using these data, we have carried out a kinematical and dynamical analysis of the M49 GC system which mirrors that presented recently for M87 by Côté $`etal.`$(2001).

We confirm previous findings that, when considered in its entirety, the GC system of M49 shows a modest net rotation that is due almost entirely to the rotation of the metal-poor subsystem. Likewise, we verify that, in a global average, the metal-rich subsystem shows essentially no rotation. However, when examined in greater detail, there is some weak evidence that the metal-rich GCs in this galaxy may, in fact, be slowly rotating, but in the opposite direction to the metal-poor GCs. The overall negligible global rotation of the metal-rich component is traced to a small sample of 10 clusters which appear to show very rapid minor-axis rotation, in the same direction as the metal-poor GCs. These objects merit further attention, as they may be the relic of a past merger or accretion event. Given the rather limited sample of metal-rich GCs with measured velocities, the significance of these findings must await additional radial velocity measurements, but it is abundantly clear that conclusions formed on the basis of globally averaged kinematics are likely to miss potentially interesting and complex variations within a given GC system.

A comparison with the results for M87, M31 and the Milky Way suggests that rotation may, in fact, be generic to GC systems, a turnabout from the traditional view of GC populations as slowly rotating systems. Any trends in GC rotational properties with metallicity seem to be quite complex, and will likely require GC radial velocity data for an expanded sample of galaxies before they can be better characterized and understood. We note, however, that in M49 and M87, there is a hint that the orientation of the rotation axes for the metal-poor GCs trace those of the underlying galaxy.

Previous studies of M49, its GC system, and its X-ray halo have produced some conflicting claims on the need for dark matter. We have shown that the GC radial velocities and density profiles alone now provide unmistakable evidence for a massive dark halo in M49/Virgo B. This result, which is corroborated by analyses of its X-ray halo but is independent of the X-ray observations, holds for any choice of GC orbital properties.

We have presented a mass model for M49/Virgo B that satisfies all existing observational constraints on the mass distribution from optical and X-ray surface brightness profiles and stellar kinematical data. A Jeans-equation analysis of the GC radial velocities and density profiles using this mass model reveals the GC system as a whole to be perfectly well described by an isotropic velocity dispersion tensor. This is also likely to be true of the separate metal-poor and metal-rich subsystems, but definite conclusions must await the measurement of additional radial velocities and improved surface density profiles for the subpopulations. Indeed, the poorly constrained density distributions of metal-poor and metal-rich GCs on large scales may now be the principal obstacle limiting our understanding their orbital properties. In any case, the demonstration that the composite GC system of M49, like that of M87, has an almost perfectly isotropic velocity dispersion tensor lends support to the general assumption of isotropy when using the GC systems of early-type galaxies to derive gravitational masses.

PC and JPB acknowledge support provided by the Sherman M. Fairchild Foundation during the early stages of this work. PC also acknowledges support provided by NASA LTSA grant NAG5-11714. This research has made use of the NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED) which is operated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The entire Keck/LRIS user communities owes a debt of gratitude to Jerry Nelson, Gerry Smith, Bev Oke, and the many other people who worked to make the Keck telescopes a reality. We are grateful to the W. M. Keck Foundation for the vision to fund the construction of the W. M. Keck Observatory. The authors wish to extend special thanks to those of Hawaiian ancestry on whose sacred mountain we are privileged to be guests. Without their generous hospitality, none of the observations presented herein would have been possible.