Related papers: The Structure of Galaxies: II. Fitting Functions a…
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…
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 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…
We start by studying a small set of objects characterized by photometric profiles that have been pointed out to deviate significantly from the standard R^{1/4} law. For these objects we confirm that a generic R^{1/n} law, with n a free…
It is well known that the surface brightness of elliptical galaxies and of bulges of spiral galaxies is best fitted by the Sersic r^{1/n} profile. It is thus interesting to explore the lensing properties of the Sersic model because of its…
Motivated by recent developments in our understanding of the formation and evolution of massive galaxies, we explore the detailed photometric structure of a representative sample of 94 bright, nearby elliptical galaxies, using high-quality…
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…
In this paper we discuss the reason why the parameters of the Sersic model best-fitting the major axis light profile of elliptical galaxies can differ significantly from those derived for the minor axis profile. We show that this…
Using isophotal radius correlations for a sample of 2MASS ellipticals, we have constructed a series of template surface brightness profiles to describe the profile shapes of ellipticals as a function of luminosity. The templates are a…
In this paper we describe some analytical properties of the R^{1/m} law proposed by Sersic to categorize the photometric profiles of elliptical galaxies. In particular, we present the full asymptotic expansion for the dimensionless scale…
This paper addresses some questions which have arisen from the use of the S\'ersic r^{1/n} law in modelling the luminosity profiles of early type galaxies. The first issue deals with the trend between the half-light radius and the…
New surface photometry of all known elliptical galaxies in the Virgo cluster is added to published data to derive composite profiles over large dynamic ranges. Sersic functions fit them remarkably well. Effective brightnesses and radii are…
The statistical properties of the ellipticities of galaxy images depend on how galaxies form and evolve, and therefore constrain models of galaxy morphology, which are key to the removal of the intrinsic alignment contamination of…
We quantify the systematics in the size-luminosity relation of galaxies in the SDSS main sample which arise from fitting different 1- and 2-component model profiles to the images. In objects brighter than L*, fitting a single Sersic profile…
By means of high-resolution N-body simulations we revisited the dissipationless collapse scenario for galaxy formation. We considered both single-component collapses and collapses of a cold stellar distribution in a live dark matter halo.…
In this paper we describe some analytical properties of the R^{1/m} law proposed by Sersic (1968) to categorize the photometric profiles of elliptical galaxies. In particular, we present the full asymptotic expansion for the dimensionless…
{Abridged} We show that the surface brightness (SB) profiles of elliptical galaxies can be parametrized using a linear superposition of 2-3 components, described by functions developed in Dhar & Williams as the 2D projections of a 3D…
The Sersic r^(1/n) index n of an elliptical galaxy (or bulge) has recently been shown to correlate strongly (r=0.8) with a galaxy's central velocity dispersion. This index could therefore prove extremely useful and cost-effective (in terms…
The last decade of research on elliptical galaxies has produced a wealth of new information concerning both their detailed structure and their global scaling relations. We review the old and new results about isophote shapes and…
We investigate the orientation correlation of giant elliptical galaxies by measuring the intrinsic ellipticity correlation function of 83,773 luminous red galaxies (LRGs) at redshifts 0.16 -- 0.47 from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. We have…