OCS / Tools / Mass TensionExplorer

Mass Tension
Explorer

Fiducial bracket · 90% regions

Interactive companion to Paper H's joint fit of ω Cen's central dark mass. Shows the mass–extension (M, a) posterior region for four verdict configurations (tracer profile × assumed distance), the 16-row ln K sensitivity ladder those configurations sit on, and the G3 formation-channel buildability overlay - all at the paper's fiducial bracket.

Embargoed to the fiducial bracket - 90% regions only Every number on this page is the paper's fiducial-bracket, 90%-credibility output (HPD90 / PL90). This tool never asserts the tension is resolved - Paper H's own conclusion is that the joint data cannot yet decide between a compact and an extended central dark mass. The ln K rows with an error-model dependence are labelled "error-model sensitivity rows," matching the paper's own label, not "profile-leg" or any other shorthand. Full method and caveats: Paper H, full text · PDF · AXI methods note.
Verdict configuration
Posterior plane - M vs. extension parameter a in pc (fiducial bracket, 90%)
M (M☉, x-axis) vs. a (parsecs, y-axis; Paper H's extension scale with fiducial a_dark = 10⁻⁴ pc)

The boxes are the shipped MARGINAL INTERVALS (M_lo–M_hi × 0–a_hi) drawn verbatim. The paper's actual 90% regions are irregular subsets of the 1,891-cell (M, a) grid (cell counts shown in the readout) and cannot be recovered from marginal intervals, so the box interior is not the region shape.

HPD90 interval box (primary, r_a marginalised) PL90 interval box (secondary, r_a profiled)
Readout
HPD90 M range
n/a
HPD90 a upper bound (pc)
n/a
HPD90 shipped cells
n/a
PL90 M range
n/a
PL90 a upper bound (pc)
n/a
PL90 shipped cells
n/a
ln K sensitivity ladder (16 rows, fiducial bracket) - selected configuration highlighted
RowTracerDist. (pc)ln K (full)ln K range

What this tool shows

Paper H ran a joint fit of ω Cen's central dark mass against four tracer-profile / assumed-distance configurations (Plummer or αβγ tracer profile, at 5,200 pc or 5,494 pc), reporting each configuration's 90% HPD (highest posterior density, r_a marginalised) and 90% profile-likelihood (r_a profiled) region in the (M, a) plane, and a 16-row ln K sensitivity ladder spanning the same four configurations plus knot-prior and error-model variants. The region values and shipped cell counts on this page are embedded verbatim from the paper's fH_posterior_plane.json (via the generated data/fH_plane_embed.js, see scripts/gen-p0calc-embeds.py), and the ladder from fH_lnk_ladder.json. The page recomputes nothing - but note the plane draws the shipped marginal intervals as boxes, and a marginal-interval box is not the paper's region shape: the shipped 90% regions are irregular cell sets (49 of 1,891 grid cells for HPD90 in the default configuration) whose full masks are not part of the shipped JSON.

Reading the ln K ladder

Rows marked error-model sensitivity row use a profiled error-model leg (use_profile: true); this is the paper's own row label, kept verbatim here. Rows without that tag use the mandatory no-profile-leg companion setup. The ladder's spread across knot-prior variants (τ=0.5, 1.0, 2.0) is itself part of the paper's reported sensitivity - not a single point estimate.

What this tool deliberately does not do

  • Does not assert the mass tension is resolved. Paper H's conclusion is that current data cannot decide between a compact and an extended central dark mass at the fiducial bracket.
  • Does not plot the G3 buildability overlay spatially on the (M, a) plane - the shipped data gives verdict counts and one favoured-region summary in different units (mass and parsec scale), not a full outline on this plane, so it is shown as a text panel instead of a fabricated spatial overlay.
  • Does not quote any single-sentence "consistency statement" from the paper outside its full context - see the paper page for that language in place.

Source

Tool v1.1 - 2026-09-24 · region values + cell counts embedded from fH_posterior_plane.json via data/fH_plane_embed.js (generated by scripts/gen-p0calc-embeds.py, pinned by scripts/check-p0calc-parity.py). This page does not auto-track the paper.