The ATLAS(3D) project - XV. Benchmark for early-type galaxies scaling relations from 260 dynamical models: mass-to-light ratio, dark matter, Fundamental Plane and Mass Plane

We study the volume-limited and nearly mass-selected (stellar mass M_stars ≳ 6 × 10⁹ M⊙) ATLAS^3D sample of 260 early-type galaxies (ETGs, ellipticals Es and lenticulars S0s). We construct detailed axisymmetric dynamical models (Jeans Anisotropic MGE), which allow for orbital anisotropy, include a dark matter halo and reproduce in detail both the galaxy images and the high-quality integral-field stellar kinematics out to about 1R_e, the projected half-light radius. We derive accurate total mass-to-light ratios (M/L)e and dark matter fractions fDM, within a sphere of radius r = R_e centred on the galaxies.We alsomeasure the stellar (M/L)_stars and derive a median dark matter fraction f_DM = 13 per cent in our sample. We infer masses M_JAM = L × (M/L)_e ≈ 2 ×M_1/2, where M1/2 is the total mass within a sphere enclosing half of the galaxy light. We find that the thin two-dimensional subset spanned by galaxies in the (M_JAM, σ_e,R^maj_e ) coordinates system, which we call the Mass Plane (MP) has an observed rms scatter of 19 per cent, which implies an intrinsic one of 11 per cent. Here, R^maj_e is the major axis of an isophote enclosing half of the observed galaxy light, while σ_e is measuredwithin that isophote. The MP satisfies the scalar virial relation M_JAM ∝ σ²_e R^maj_e within our tight errors. This show that the larger scatter in the Fundamental Plane (FP) (L, σ_e, R_e) is due to stellar population effects [including trends in the stellar initial mass function (IMF)]. It confirms that the FP deviation from the virial exponents is due to a genuine (M/L)e variation. However, the details of how both R_e and σ_e are determined are critical in defining the precise deviation from the virial exponents. The main uncertainty in masses or M/L estimates using the scalar virial relation is in the measurement of R_e. This problem is already relevant for nearby galaxies and may cause significant biases in virial mass and size determinations at high redshift. Dynamical models can eliminate these problems.We revisit the (M/L)_e-σ_e relation, which describes most of the deviations between the MP and the FP. The best-fitting relation is (M/L)_e ∝ σ^0.72_e (r band). It provides an upper limit to any systematic increase of the IMF mass normalization with σ_e. The correlation is more shallow and has smaller scatter for slow rotating systems or for galaxies in Virgo. For the latter, when using the best distance estimates, we observe a scatter in (M/L)_e of 11 per cent, and infer an intrinsic one of 8 per cent. We perform an accurate empirical study of the link between se and the galaxies circular velocity Vcirc within 1Re (where stars dominate) and find the relation max (Vcirc) ≈ 1.76 × σ_e, which has an observed scatter of 7 per cent. The accurate parameters described in this paper are used in the companion Paper XX (Cappellari et al.) of this series to explore the variation of global galaxy properties, including the IMF, on the projections of the MP.