The effect of magnetic field on the inner Galactic rotation curve

Abstract

ABSTRACT In the past few decades, some studies pointed out that magnetic field might affect the rotation curves in galaxies. However, the impact is relatively small compared with the effects of dark matter and the baryonic components. In this letter, we revisit the impact of magnetic field on the rotation curve of our Galaxy. We show that the inner Galactic rotation curve could be affected significantly by the magnetic field. The addition of the inner bulge component, which has been proposed previously to account for the inner rotation curve data, is not necessary. The magnetic field contribution can fully account for the excess of the inner rotation velocity between 5 to 50 pc from the Galactic Centre. Our analysis can also constrain the azimuthal component of the central regular magnetic field strength to $B_0 \sim 50-60\, \mu$G, which is consistent with the observed range.