Related papers: Sizing up Partially-Depleted Galaxy Cores
We fit the surface-brightness profiles of 21 elliptical galaxies using both the Sersic function and a new empirical model which combines an inner power law with an outer Sersic function. The profiles are combinations of deconvolved HST…
New surface brightness profiles from 26 early-type galaxies with partially depleted cores have been extracted from the full radial extent of HST images, giving us a total sample of 31 such core-Sersic galaxies. We have carefully quantified…
Partially depleted cores, as measured by core-Sersic model "break radii", are typically tens to a few hundred parsecs in size. Here we investigate the unusually large (cusp radius of 4.57 kpc) depleted core recently reported for Holm 15A,…
The inner and outer shapes and orientations of core-Sersic galaxies may hold important clues to their formation and evolution. We have therefore measured the central and outer ellipticities and position angles for a sample of 24 core-Sersic…
New measurements of the stellar-mass deficits at the centers of luminous elliptical galaxies are presented. These were derived considering the following observational facts. Firstly, ``core'' galaxies, which are thought to have had their…
[Abridged] Luminous spheroids (M_V < - 21.50 +- 0.75 mag) contain partially depleted cores with sizes (R_ b) typically 0.02 - 0.5 kpc. However, galaxies with R_b > 0.5 kpc are rare and poorly understood. Here we perform detailed…
Shallow cores in bright, massive galaxies are commonly thought to be the result of scouring of stars by mergers of binary supermassive black holes. Past investigations have suggested correlations between the central black hole mass and the…
Partially-depleted cores are practically ubiquitous in luminous early-type galaxies (M$_{B}\lesssim-$20.5 mag), and typically smaller than 1 kpc. In one popular scenario, supermassive black hole binaries --- established during dry (i.e.…
Recent years have seen dramatic progress in the study of the core and nuclear properties of galaxies. The structure of the cores has been shown to vary methodically with global and nuclear properties, as cores respond to the mechanisms by…
The core-S\'ersic model is the standard tool for describing partially depleted stellar cores in massive early-type galaxies, yet its physical admissibility has rarely been examined. Using numerical deprojections, we show that many formally…
We have analysed deep R-band images, down to a limiting surface brightness of 26.5 R-mag arcsec$^{-2}$ (equivalent to ~28 B-mag arcsec$^{-2}$), of 5 cD galaxies to determine the shape of the surface brightness profiles of their extended…
The Nuker law was designed to match the inner few (~3-10) arcseconds of predominantly nearby (< 30 Mpc) early-type galaxy light-profiles; it was never intended to describe an entire profile. The Sersic model, on the other hand, was…
We used the Advanced Camera for Surveys on board the Hubble Space Telescope to obtain high resolution i-band images of the centers of 23 single galaxies, which were selected because they have SDSS velocity dispersions larger than 350 km/s.…
Sersic parameters characterising the density profiles of remnants formed in collision-less disc galaxy mergers are obtained; no bulge is included in our simulations. For the luminous component we find that the Sersic index is n ~ (1.5,5.3)…
We analyse HST surface brightness profiles for 143 early-type galaxies in the Virgo and Fornax Clusters. Sersic models provide accurate descriptions of the global profiles with a notable exception: the observed profiles deviate…
We use HST near-infrared imaging to explore the shapes of the surface brightness profiles of bulges of S0-Sbc galaxies at high resolution. Modeling extends to the outer bulge via bulge-disk decompositions of combined HST - ground based…
(abridged) We develop the mid-infrared extinction (MIREX) mapping technique of Butler & Tan (2009, Paper I), presenting a new method to correct for the Galactic foreground emission based on observed saturation in independent cores. Using…
We present new near-infrared spectroscopic observations of the outer edges of the young stellar cluster around the supermassive black hole at the Galactic center. The observations show a break in the surface-density profile of young stars…
[Abridged] We investigate the nature of the relations between black hole (BH) mass ($M_{\rm BH}$) and the central velocity dispersion ($\sigma$) and, for core-S\'ersic galaxies, the size of the depleted core ($R_{\rm b}$). Our sample of 144…
We present surface photometry for the central regions of a sample of 48 spiral galaxies (mostly unbarred and barred of types Sbc or Sc) observed with the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph on board the Hubble Space Telescope. Surface…