2015A&A...579A.134S

Recently, we determined a lower bound for the Milky Way mass in a point mass approximation. We obtain this result for most general spherically symmetric phase-space distribution functions consistent with a measured radial velocity dispersion. As a stability test of these predictions against a perturbation of the point mass potential, in this paper we make use of a representative of these functions to set the initial conditions for a simulation in a more realistic potential of similar mass and to account for other observations. The predicted radial velocity dispersion profile evolves to forms still consistent with the measured profile, proving structural stability of the point mass approximation and the reliability of the resulting mass estimate of ∼2.1x10¹¹M_☉ within 150kpc. As a byproduct, we derive a formula in the spherical symmetry relating the radial velocity dispersion profile to a directly measured kinematical observable.