MAGMA is a Wolfram Mathematica package that analyses rotation curve data and the baryonic mass distribution of galaxies. It aims to test either dark matter halos or modified gravity effects that mimic dark matter. If a sample of galaxies is provided, it can automatically derive the best-fits for the complete sample with a single human interaction.
This software is free to use and modify (under license GPLv3). In case it is used for a publication, please cite the original work D.C. Rodrigues et al Nat.Astron. 2018. This package was developed and tested in Mathematica 11.2. In case of doubts/issues, let me know ([email protected]).
MAGMA is subdivided in the following parts:
- MAGMAfits - performs chi-squared minimization analysis for a given model.
- MAGMAplots - uses the output of MAGMAfits to generate plots for all the fitted galaxies with the best-fit parameters.
- MAGMAtable - generates a single table with diverse global data for each galaxy, including the results of MAGMAfits and also has a simple interface for importing mBayes results.
- Multiple chi-squared minimizations done in parallel for each galaxy, and in two runs (the second run refines the first one). All minimizations are based on the differential evolution optimization.
- MAGMA was at first developed to work with the SPARC data, hence it can be straightforwardly used with it. It can also be used with any other galaxy sample of disk galaxies, as long as the input data follow the same format.
- Speed. For usual models (like MOND, NFW profile, Burkert profile...), all the 175 SPARC galaxies can be fit in a couple of hours with a desktop computer (or in about one hour if the second run is skipped).
- Bayesian inference and mBayes compatibility. MAGMAfit exports data of each galaxy's chi-squared function and the best-fit values, which can be nicely imported by mBayes. mBayes can use the best-fit from MAGMA to determine the starting parameter space region to be explored.