Predicting the scaling relations between the dark matter halo mass and observables from generalised profiles I: Kinematic tracers

We investigate the relationship between a dark matter halo's mass profile and measures of the velocity dispersion of kinematic tracerswithin its gravitational potential. By predicting the scaling relation of the halo mass with the aperture velocity dispersion,M-vir-sigma(ap),wepresent the expected form and dependence of this halo mass tracer on physical parameters within our analytic halo model: parameterisedby the halo's negative inner logarithmic density slope,alpha, its concentration parameter,c, and its velocity anisotropy parameter,beta. For theseidealised halos, we obtain a general solution to the Jeans equation, which is projected over the line of sight and averaged within an apertureto form the corresponding aperture velocity dispersion profile. Through dimensional analysis, theM(vir)-sigma(ap)scaling relation is devisedexplicitly in terms of analytical bounds for these aperture velocity dispersion profiles: allowing constraints to be placed on this relation formotivated parameter choices. We predict the M-200-sigma(ap)andM(500)-sigma(ap)scaling relations, each with an uncertainty of 60.5% and 56.2%,respectively. These halo mass estimates are found to be weakly sensitive to the halo's concentration and mass scale, and most sensitive tothe size of the aperture radius in which the aperture velocity dispersion is measured, the maximum value for the halo's inner slope, and theminimum and maximum values of the velocity anisotropy. Our results show that a halo's structural and kinematic profiles impose only aminor uncertainty in estimating its mass. Consequently, spectroscopic surveys aimed at constraining the halo mass using kinematic tracerscan focus on characterising other, more complex sources of uncertainty and observational systematics