Escape speed of a truncated flat-rotation halo

ID: escape-speed-of-a-truncated-flat-rotation-halo

A spherical halo with flat circular speed has and . If it is sharply truncated at , the work per unit mass from to the boundary is and from the boundary to infinity is . Adding them gives the displayed escape velocity. A bound star's observed radial speed is only a lower bound on its total speed and on the escape speed, so one maximum radial measurement generally gives a lower bound on rather than an exact halo edge.

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