Unseen matter and angular momentum in the Milky Way and other galaxies: Simple two-component models

Simple two-component (dark+bright) models are built up for the Milky Way, where both the density distribution and the rotation curve are deduced from known observations. The derived dark to bright mass ratio turns out to be in the range 10, in close agreement with the results of more refined approaches, with a weak dependence on the geometry of the model. The related angular momentum appears to be well in agreement with theoretical predictions, if proto-galaxies gain angular momentum via either gravitational interactions or peculiar velocities of their own sub-units, according to a logarithmic distribution of the squared fractional angular momenta close to a Maxwellian one. The rougher assumption that the whole system is represented by a rigidly rotating polytrope leads to dark components rounder than _D0.7 if proto-galaxies gain angular momentum via gravitational interactions, and to much more flattened dark components if proto-galaxies gain angular momentum via peculiar velocities of their own sub-units and few (4) sub-units are present at the beginning. To fit the observed positions of several galaxies on the (Oê_Bq_B) plane-ê_B representing the ellipticity andq_B close to the ratio of maximum rotational to central peculiar velocity, averaged for all the inclinations to the line of sight — galaxies are modelled by two-component (dark+bright) rigidly rotating, concentric, co-polar, homogeneous spheroids and the Galaxy is assumed to be a typical system. An acceptable fit is produced only under the assumption that protogalaxies gain their angular momentum in late stages of evolution, i.e., after having decoupled from the Hubble flow.