Related papers: Dynamical Mass Determination for Elliptical Galaxi…
We describe a non-parametric method for determining both the anisotropy and mass profiles of elliptical galaxies from velocity dispersions and velocity profile shapes along the line of sight. In this way, mass-to-light ratios out to 2-3…
Recent progress in the dynamical analysis of elliptical galaxy kinematics is reviewed. Results reported briefly include (i) the surprisingly uniform anisotropy structure of luminous ellipticals, (ii) their nearly flat (to $\sim 2R_e$)…
We study dynamical models for elliptical galaxies, deriving the projected kinematic profiles in a form that is valid for general surface-brightness profiles and (spherical) total mass profiles, without the need for any explicit…
The halo masses of nearby individual elliptical galaxies can be estimated by using the kinematics of their stars, planetary nebulae, and globular clusters -- ideally in combination. With currently improving coverage of galaxies of ordinary…
We show how the combination of observations related to strong gravitational lensing and stellar dynamics in ellipticals offers a new way to measure the cosmological matter and dark-energy density parameters. A gravitational lensing estimate…
Recent progress is summarized on the determination of the density distributions of stars and dark matter, stellar kinematics, and stellar population properties, in the extended, low surface brightness halo regions of elliptical galaxies.…
The evolution of masses and sizes of passive (early-type) galaxies with redshift provides ideal constraints to galaxy formation models. These parameters can in principle be obtained for large galaxy samples from multi-band photometry alone.…
The fraction of high-redshift sources which are multiply-imaged by intervening galaxies is strongly dependent on the cosmological constant, and so can be a useful probe of the cosmological model. However its power is limited by various…
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…
High-resolution numerical simulations of galaxy mergers are analysed. The global structure and isophotal shapes of the merger remnants are in good agreement with the observations. Whereas equal-mass mergers lead to anisotropic, boxy…
A kinematical analysis applied to a sample of galaxy clusters indicates that the differences between the velocity distribution of elliptical and spiral galaxies are associated with the shape of their orbit families. The orbital anisotropies…
We construct stable axially symmetric models of elliptical galaxies. The particle density on phase space for these models depends monotonically on the particle energy and on the third component of the angular momentum. They are obtained as…
To solve some problems of celestial mechanics and astrophysics, three new models of an elliptical galaxy (EG) have been created, which are in good agreement with modern understanding of the structure of such galaxies. Based on these models,…
Given the dimensions (including thickness) and rotation speeds for an axisymmetric galaxy, a closed-loop iterative method is designed to find the total mass, density, and surface-mass density (SMD)distributions. There is no need for…
The projected kinematical properties of unequal-mass merger remnants of disk galaxies are analysed and shown to agree well with observations of disky, fast rotating elliptical galaxies. This supports the major merger hypothesis of…
When introducing a nanoparticle into an optical trap, its mass and shape are not immediately apparent. We combine a charge-based mass measurement with a shape determination method based on light scattering and an analysis of the damping…
The combination of strong gravitational lensing and stellar kinematics provides a powerful and robust method to investigate the mass and dynamical structure of early-type galaxies. We demonstrate this approach by analysing two massive…
Strong gravitational lensing and stellar dynamics provide two complementary and orthogonal constraints on the density profiles of galaxies. Based on spherically symmetric, scale-free, mass models, it is shown that the combination of both…
We estimate the masses of elliptical galaxies out to five effective radii using planetary nebulae and globular clusters as tracers. A sample of 15 elliptical galaxies with a broad variation in mass is compiled from the literature. A…
Observations show that early-type galaxies contain a considerable amount of interstellar dust, most of which is believed to exist as a diffusely distributed component. We construct a four-parameter elliptical galaxy model in order to…