Related papers: Physically motivated fit to mass surface density p…
The kinematics of stars and planetary nebulae in early type galaxies provide vital clues to the enigmatic physics of their dark matter halos. We fit published data for fourteen such galaxies using a spherical, self-gravitating model with…
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 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…
While the Sersic profile family provide adequate fits for the surface brightness profiles of observed galaxies, the physical origin is unknown. We show that, if the cosmological density field are seeded by random gaussian fluctuations, as…
We present stellar mass surface density profiles of a mass-selected sample of 177 galaxies at 0.5 < z < 2.5, obtained using very deep HST optical and near-infrared data over the GOODS-South field, including recent CANDELS data. Accurate…
The stellar surface mass density profiles at the centers of typical ~L* and lower-mass spheroids exhibit power law 'cusps' with $\Sigma \propto R^(-n)$, where 0.5<n<1 for radii ~1-100 pc. Observations and theory support models in which…
We develop a novel way of finding total mass density profiles in Sersic ellipticals, to about 3 times the major axis effective radius, using no other information other than what is typically available for distant galaxies, namely the…
Dynamical systems in equilibrium have a stationary entropy; we suggest that elliptical galaxies, as stellar systems in a stage of quasi-equilibrium, may have a unique specific entropy. This uniqueness, a priori unknown, should be reflected…
We do not have a final answer to the question of why galaxies choose a particular internal mass distribution. Here we examine whether the distribution is set by thermodynamic equilibrium (TE). Traditionally, TE is discarded for a number of…
The properties of filamentary interstellar clouds observed at sub-millimetre wavelengths, especially by the Herschel Space Observatory, are analysed with polytropic models in cylindrical symmetry. The observed radial density profiles are…
The stellar density profile a galaxy is typically summarised with two numbers: total stellar mass and half-light radius. The total mass of a galaxy, however, is not a well-defined quantity, due to the finite depth of photometric…
Present-day multi-wavelength deep imaging surveys allow to characterise the outskirts of galaxies with unprecedented precision. Taking advantage of this situation, we define a new physically motivated measurement of size for galaxies based…
The S\'ersic model is known to fit well the surface brightness (or surface density) profiles of elliptical galaxies and galaxy bulges, and possibly for dwarf spheroidal galaxies and globular clusters. The deprojected density and mass…
We obtain two equations (following from two different approaches) for the density profile in a self-gravitating polytropic cylindrically symmetric and rotating turbulent gas disk. The adopted physical picture is appropriate to describe the…
We demonstrate that morphological observables (e.g. steepness of the radial light profile, ellipticity, asymmetry) are intertwined and cannot be measured independently of each other. We present strong arguments in favour of model-based…
We investigate constraints on the inner stellar density profile from photometric data of dwarf spheroidal and ultra-faint dwarf galaxies. Our aim is to clarify under what conditions cored stellar profiles require dark matter halos that are…
Previously, we showed that surface density profiles of the form of a power-law times a Sersic function satisfy the hydrostatic Jeans equations, a variety of observational constraints, and the condition of a minimal radial entropy profile in…
A method is developed to evaluate the magnifications of the images of galaxies with lensing potentials stratified on similar concentric ellipses. A simple contour integral is provided which enables the sums of the magnifications of even…
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…
Massive galaxies display extended light profiles that can reach several hundreds of kilo parsecs. These stellar halos provide a fossil record of galaxy assembly histories. Using data that is both wide (~100 square degree) and deep (i>28.5…