Related papers: Measuring Galaxy Potentials using Shell Kinematics
Stellar shells observed in many giant elliptical and lenticular as well as a few spiral and dwarf galaxies presumably result from radial minor mergers of galaxies. We show that the line-of-sight velocity distribution of the shells has a…
Tests of MOND in ellipticals are relatively rare because these galaxies often lack kinematic tracers in the regions where the MOND effects are significant. Stellar shells observed in many elliptical galaxies offer a promising way to…
Various models of modified gravity invoke ``screening'' mechanisms that are sensitive to the value of the local gravitational potential. This could have observable consequences for galaxies. These consequences might be seen by comparing two…
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…
Ellipticals in very low density environments are extremely rare but hold important clues about galaxy formation and evolution. In this paper we continue our study of isolated elliptical galaxies, presenting results on the radial stellar…
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,…
We present a 2D kinematic analysis out to ~2-5 effective radii (Re) of 33 massive elliptical galaxies with stellar velocity dispersions larger than 150 km/s. Our observations were taken using the Mitchell Spectrograph (formerly VIRUS-P), a…
The combination of dynamical and photometric properties of galaxies offers a largely un-tapped source of information on how galaxies assembled and where stars formed. Bi-dimensional kinematic measurements have been the stumbling block. The…
We present equations for the gravitational lensing flexion expected for an elliptical lens mass distribution. These can be reduced to one-dimensional finite integrals, thus saving significant computing time over a full two-dimensional…
Shells are fine stellar structures identified by their arc-like shapes present around a galaxy and currently thought to be vestiges of galaxy interactions and/or mergers. The study of their number, geometry, stellar populations and gas…
There are many fundamental aspects of Galactic structure and evolution which can be studied best or exclusively with high quality three dimensional kinematics. Amongst these we note as examples determination of the orientation of the…
Upcoming or future deep galaxy samples with wide sky coverage can provide independent measurement of the kinematic dipole - our motion relative to the rest frame defined by the large-scale structure. Such a measurement would present an…
I summarize recent observations of the kinematics of hot tracers in elliptical galaxy halos (globular clusters, planetary nebulae, and integrated stellar light), and what these tell us about the dynamics, dark matter content, and formation…
Stellar shells are low surface brightness features in the form of open, concentric arcs, formed in close-to-radial collisions of galaxies. They occur in at least 10% of early-type galaxies and a small portion of spirals and their unique…
Recent advances in observational techniques and theoretical modelling of galaxy kinematics allow us to use more than just optical morphology to discern the structure and dynamics of galaxies. Here, we show for three barred galaxies (UGC…
We propose a new technique to directly measure the shapes of dark matter halos of galaxies using weak gravitational lensing. Extending the standard galaxy-galaxy lensing method, we show that the shape parameters of the mass distribution of…
We explore how observations relate to the physical properties of the emitting galaxies by post-processing a pair of merging $z\sim2$ galaxies from the cosmological, hydrodynamical simulation NewHorizon using LCARS (Light from Cloudy Added…
The mass and anisotropy of an elliptical galaxy can be simultaneously determined from velocity dispersion and line profile shape measurements. We describe the principles, techniques, and limitations of this approach, and the results…
It is widely accepted that shell galaxies form as a result of a merger between an elliptical and a small disk galaxy. Simulations of the stellar component have shown that the shells are created either by ``phase-wrapping'' of debris on…
We present a method for recovering the distribution functions of edge-on thin axisymmetric disks directly from their observable kinematic properties. The most generally observable properties of such a stellar system are the line-of-sight…