The mass distribution in early-type disc galaxies: declining rotation curves and correlations with optical properties

Abstract

We present rotation curves for 19 early-type disc galaxies (S0-Sab). The galaxies span a B-band absolute magnitude range from -17.5 to -22, but the majority have a high luminosity with M B < -20. Rotation velocities are measured from a combination of H I velocity fields and long-slit optical emission line spectra along the major axis; the resulting rotation curves probe the gravitational potential on scales ranging from 100 pc to 100 kpc.