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In astrophysics and physical cosmology the mass-to-light ratio, normally designated with the Greek letter upsilon, ϒ, [1] is the quotient between the total mass of a spatial volume (typically on the scales of a galaxy or a cluster) and its luminosity.
The mass/luminosity relation is important because it can be used to find the distance to binary systems which are too far for normal parallax measurements, using a technique called "dynamical parallax". [8] In this technique, the masses of the two stars in a binary system are estimated, usually in terms of the mass of the Sun.
The more luminous an object, the smaller the numerical value of its absolute magnitude. A difference of 5 magnitudes between the absolute magnitudes of two objects corresponds to a ratio of 100 in their luminosities, and a difference of n magnitudes in absolute magnitude corresponds to a luminosity ratio of 100 n/5.
In that situation the combined mass of the positive–negative charge carrier pair is approximately 918 times smaller (half of the proton-to-electron mass ratio), while the radiation pressure on the positrons doubles the effective upward force per unit mass, so the limiting luminosity needed is reduced by a factor of ≈ 918×2.
Second is the mass–luminosity relation, which relates the luminosity L and the mass M. Finally, the relationship between M and R is close to linear. The ratio of M to R increases by a factor of only three over 2.5 orders of magnitude of M.
Luminosity is an absolute measure of radiated electromagnetic energy per unit time, and is synonymous with the radiant power emitted by a light-emitting object. [1] [2] In astronomy, luminosity is the total amount of electromagnetic energy emitted per unit of time by a star, galaxy, or other astronomical objects. [3] [4]
In 1939, Horace Babcock reported in his PhD thesis measurements of the rotation curve for Andromeda which suggested that the mass-to-luminosity ratio increases radially. [7] He attributed that to either the absorption of light within the galaxy or to modified dynamics in the outer portions of the spiral and not to any form of missing matter.
The tightest correlation is recovered when considering the total baryonic mass (the sum of its mass in stars and gas). [7] This latter form of the relation is known as the baryonic Tully–Fisher relation ( BTFR ), and states that baryonic mass is proportional to velocity to the power of roughly 3.5–4.