WFPC2 Images of the Central Regions of Early-Type Galaxies. I. The Data

Rest, A.; Bosch, Frank C. van den; Jaffe, W.; Tran, H. D.; Tsvetanov, Z.; Ford, H. C.; Davies, James E.; Schafer, Joanna

doi:10.1086/320370

Cited by 205 publications

(410 citation statements)

References 62 publications

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“…Applying the Nuker model to the light profiles of 120 "core" galaxies, Lauer et al (2007a) noted that the Nuker model break radii (R b,Nuk ) are only roughly correlated with the galaxy properties. However, they identified a better correlated parameter rγ (the "cusp radius") as a measure of the core size (Carollo et al 1997a;Rest et al 2001). Dullo & Graham (2012) subsequently showed that this cusp radius closely matches the break radius of the core-Sérsic model which we employ here 2 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 78%

Depleted cores, multicomponent fits, and structural parameter relations for luminous early-type galaxies

Dullo¹,

Graham²

2014

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

147

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New surface brightness profiles from 26 early-type galaxies with suspected partially depleted cores have been extracted from the full radial extent of Hubble Space Telescope images. We have carefully quantified the radial stellar distributions of the elliptical galaxies using the core-Sérsic model whereas for the lenticular galaxies a core-Sérsic bulge plus an exponential disc model gives the best representation. We additionally caution about the use of excessive multiple Sérsic functions for decomposing galaxies and compare with past fits in the literature. The structural parameters obtained from our fitted models are in general, in good agreement with our initial study using radially limited (R < ∼ 10 ′′ ) profiles, and are used here to update several "central" as well as "global" galaxy scaling relations. We find near-linear relations between the break radius R b and the spheroid luminosity L such that R b ∝ L 1.13±0.13 , and with the supermassive black hole mass. This is internally consistent with the notion that major, dry mergers add the stellar and black hole mass in equal proportion, i.e., M BH ∝ L. In addition, we observe a linear relation R b ∝ R 0.98±0.15 e for the core-Sérsic elliptical galaxies-where R e is the galaxies' effective half light radii-which is collectively consistent with the approximately-linear, bright-end of the curved L − R e relation. Finally, we measure accurate stellar mass deficits M def that are in general 0.5−4 M BH , and we identify two galaxies (NGC 1399, NGC 5061) that, due to their high M def /M BH ratio, may have experienced oscillatory core-passage by a (gravitational radiation)-kicked black hole. The galaxy scaling relations and stellar mass deficits favor core-Sérsic galaxy formation through a few "dry" major merger events involving supermassive black holes such that M def ∝ M 3.70±0.76 BH , for M BH > ∼ 2 × 10 8 M ⊙ .

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 78%

Depleted cores, multicomponent fits, and structural parameter relations for luminous early-type galaxies

Dullo¹,

Graham²

2014

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

147

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“…galaxies (e.g., Rest et al 2001;Ravindranath et al 2001). We wish to avoid such features here, as we are presently concerned only with the bulge (and outer disk, if one exists) of M32.…”

Section: Modeling the Surface Brightness Profilementioning

confidence: 99%

Evidence for an Outer Disk in the Prototype “Compact Elliptical” Galaxy M32

Graham

2002

The Astrophysical Journal

107

138

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M32 is the prototype for the relatively rare class of galaxies referred to as compact ellipticals. It has been suggested that M32 may be a tidally disturbed elliptical galaxy or the remnant bulge of a disk-stripped early-1/4 r type spiral galaxy. This Letter reveals that the surface brightness profile, the velocity dispersion measurements, and the estimated supermassive black hole mass in M32 are inconsistent with the galaxy having, and probably ever having had, an light profile. Instead, the radial surface brightness distribution of M32 resembles an 1/4 r almost perfect (bulgeϩexponential disk) profile; this is accompanied by a marked increase in the ellipticity profile and an associated change in the position angle profile where the "disk" starts to dominate. Compelling evidence that this bulge/disk interpretation is accurate comes from the best-fitting bulge model, which has a Sérsic 1/n r index of , in agreement with the recently discovered relation between a bulge's Sérsic index and the n p 1.5 mass of a bulge's supermassive black hole. An index of would also be inconsistent with the stellar velocity n ≥ 4 dispersion of M32. The bulge-to-disk size ratio equals 0.20, and the logarithm of the bulge-to-disk luminosity r /h e ratio equals 0.22, typical of Sf galaxies. The effective radius of the bulge is 27Љ (∼100 pc), while the log (B/D) scale length of the disk is less well determined: owing to possible tidal stripping of the outer profile beyond 220Љ-250Љ, the scale length may be as large as 1.3 kpc. M32 is a relatively face-on, nucleated dwarf galaxy with a low surface brightness disk and a high surface brightness bulge. This finding brings into question the very existence of the compact elliptical class of galaxies.

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“…Afterward, nuclear stellar disks (NSDs) and larger scale embedded disks were reported in a large number of early-type galaxies as a results of photometric (Lauer et al 1995;Carollo et al 1997;Ravindranath et al 2001;Rest et al 2001;Tran et al 2001;Ferrarese et al 2006;Seth et al 2006;Simões Lopes et al 2007;Kormendy et al 2009) and spectroscopic surveys (Halliday et al 2001;Kuntschner et al 2006;McDermid et al 2006) respectively. Given that nuclear disks are easiest to detect when nearly edgeon (Rix & White 1990), the observed fraction is consistent with NSDs being a common structure in early-type galaxies (Ledo et al 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multiband photometric decomposition of nuclear stellar disks

Morelli¹,

Cesetti

Corsini³

et al. 2010

A&A

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Context. Small, bright stellar disks with scale lengths of a few tens of parsec are known to reside in the center of galaxies. They are believed to have formed in a dissipational process as the end result of star formation in gas either accreted during a merging (or acquisition) event or piled up by the secular evolution of a nuclear bar. Only a few of them have been studied in detail to date. Aims. Using archival Hubble Space Telescope (HST) imaging, we investigate the photometric parameters of the nuclear stellar disks hosted by three early-type galaxies in the Virgo cluster, NGC 4458, NGC 4478, and NGC 4570, to constrain the process that forms their stars. Methods. The central surface brightness, scale length, inclination, and position angle of the nuclear disks were derived by adopting the photometric decomposition method introduced by Scorza & Bender and assuming the disks to be infinitesimally thin and exponential. Results. The location, orientation, and size of the nuclear disks is the same in all the images obtained with the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 and Advanced Camera for Surveys and available in the HST Science Archive. The scale length, inclination, and position angle of each disk are constant within the errors in the observed U, B, V, and I passbands, independently of their values and the properties of the host spheroid. Conclusions. We interpret the absence of color gradients in the stellar population of the nuclear disks as the signature that star formation homogeneously occurred along their length. An inside-out formation scenario is, instead, expected to produce color gradients and is therefore ruled out.

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WFPC2 Images of the Central Regions of Early-Type Galaxies. I. The Data

Cited by 205 publications

References 62 publications

Depleted cores, multicomponent fits, and structural parameter relations for luminous early-type galaxies

Depleted cores, multicomponent fits, and structural parameter relations for luminous early-type galaxies

Evidence for an Outer Disk in the Prototype “Compact Elliptical” Galaxy M32

Multiband photometric decomposition of nuclear stellar disks

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