Dynamical Regularities in Galaxies

Abstract

Galaxies are observed to obey a strict set of dynamical scaling relations. We review these relations for rotationally supported disk galaxies spanning many decades in mass, surface brightness, and gas content. The behavior of these widely varied systems can be summarized with a handful of empirical laws connected by a common acceleration scale.

Comments: 8 pages, 6 figures; invited review for IAU Symposium 353: Galactic Dynamics in the Era of Large Surveys