Tracing the Galactic Halo: Obtaining Bayesian mass estimates of the Galaxy in the presence of incomplete data

Abstract The mass and cumulative mass profile of the Galaxy are its most fundamental properties. Estimating these properties, however, is not a trivial problem. We rely on the kinematic information from Galactic satellites such as globular clusters and dwarf galaxies, and this data is incomplete and subject to measurement uncertainty. In particular, the complete 3D velocity vectors of objects are sometimes unavailable, and …