Related papers: Depleted cores, multi-component fits, and structur…
[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…
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…
We have modelled the inner surface brightness profiles of 39 alleged `core' galaxies with the core-Sersic model, and provide new physical parameters for the largest ever sample of `core' galaxies fit with this model. When present,…
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…
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…
We analyze Hubble Space Telescope surface-brightness profiles of 61 elliptical galaxies and spiral bulges (hot galaxies). Luminous hot galaxies have cuspy cores with steep outer power-law profiles that break at r ~ r_b to shallow inner…
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…
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)…
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 binding energy liberated by the coalescence of supermassive black hole (SMBH) binaries during galaxy mergers is thought to be responsible for the low density cores often found in bright elliptical galaxies. We use high-resolution…
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…
We have used the full radial extent of images from the Hubble Space Telescope's Advanced Camera for Surveys and Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 to extract surface brightness profiles from a sample of six, local lenticular galaxy candidates.…
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…
From a sample of 72 galaxies with reliable supermassive black hole masses M_(bh), we derive the M_(bh)-(host spheroid luminosity, L) relation for (i) the subsample of 24 core-Sersic galaxies with partially depleted cores, and (ii) the…
Popular models for describing the luminosity-density profiles of dynamically hot stellar systems (e.g., Jaffe, Hernquist, Dehnen) were constructed with the desire to match the deprojected form of an R^{1/4} light-profile. Real galaxies,…
We have used the EFAR sample of galaxies to study the light distributions of early-type galaxies. We decompose the 2D light distribution of the galaxies in a flattened spheroidal component with a Sersic radial light profile and an inclined…
We present collisionless simulations of dry mergers in groups of three to twenty-five galaxies to test the hypothesis that elliptical galaxies form at the centers of such groups. Mock observations of the central remnants confirm their…
Given its velocity dispersion, the early-type galaxy NGC 1600 has an unusually massive ($M_\bullet = 1.7 \times 10^{10} M_\odot$) central supermassive black hole (SMBH), surrounded by a large core ($r_\mathrm{b} = 0.7$ kpc) with a…
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…
Surface photometry of 311 ellipticals from the 2MASS imaging database is analyzed with respect to the two most common fitting functions; the r^1/4 law and the Sersic r^1/n model. The advantages and disadvantages of each fitting function are…