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The SAURON project - VI. Line strength maps of 48 elliptical and lenticular galaxies
We present absorption line strength maps of 48 representative ellipticaland lenticular galaxies obtained as part of a survey of nearby galaxiesusing our custom-built integral-field spectrograph, SAURON, operating onthe William Herschel Telescope. Using high-quality spectra, spatiallybinned to a constant signal-to-noise ratio, we measure four key age,metallicity and abundance ratio sensitive indices from the Lick/IDSsystem over a two-dimensional field extending up to approximately oneeffective radius. A discussion of calibrations and offsets is given,along with a description of error estimation and nebular emissioncorrection. We modify the classical Fe5270 index to define a new index,Fe5270S, which maximizes the useable spatial coverage ofSAURON. Maps of Hβ, Fe5015, Mgb and Fe5270S arepresented for each galaxy. We use the maps to compute average linestrengths integrated over circular apertures of one-eighth effectiveradius, and compare the resulting relations of index versus velocitydispersion with previous long-slit work. The metal line strength mapsshow generally negative gradients with increasing radius roughlyconsistent with the morphology of the light profiles. Remarkabledeviations from this general trend exist, particularly the Mgb isoindexcontours appear to be flatter than the isophotes of the surfacebrightness for about 40 per cent of our galaxies without significantdust features. Generally, these galaxies exhibit significant rotation.We infer from this that the fast-rotating component features a highermetallicity and/or an increased Mg/Fe ratio as compared to the galaxy asa whole. The Hβ maps are typically flat or show a mild positiveoutwards radial gradient, while a few galaxies show strong central peaksand/or elevated overall Hβ strength likely connected to recent starformation activity. For the most prominent post-starburst galaxies, eventhe metal line strength maps show a reversed gradient.
| The SAURON project - V. Integral-field emission-line kinematics of 48 elliptical and lenticular galaxies
We present the emission-line fluxes and kinematics of 48 representativeelliptical and lenticular galaxies obtained with our custom-builtintegral-field spectrograph, SAURON, operating on the William HerschelTelescope. Hβ, [OIII]λλ4959,5007 and[NI]λλ5198,5200 emission lines were measured using a newprocedure that simultaneously fits both the stellar spectrum and theemission lines. Using this technique we can detect emission lines downto an equivalent width of 0.1 Å set by the current limitations indescribing galaxy spectra with synthetic and real stellar templates,rather than by the quality of our spectra. Gas velocities and velocitydispersions are typically accurate to within 14 and 20 kms-1, respectively, and at worse to within 25 and 40 kms-1. The errors on the flux of the [OIII] and Hβ linesare on average 10 and 20 per cent, respectively, and never exceed 30 percent. Emission is clearly detected in 75 per cent of our samplegalaxies, and comes in a variety of resolved spatial distributions andkinematic behaviours. A mild dependence on the Hubble type and galacticenvironment is observed, with higher detection rates in lenticulargalaxies and field objects. More significant is the fact that only 55per cent of the galaxies in the Virgo cluster exhibit clearly detectedemission. The ionized-gas kinematics is rarely consistent with simplecoplanar circular motions. However, the gas almost never displayscompletely irregular kinematics, generally showing coherent motions withsmooth variations in angular momentum. In the majority of the cases, thegas kinematics is decoupled from the stellar kinematics, and in half ofthe objects this decoupling implies a recent acquisition of gaseousmaterial. Over the entire sample however, the distribution of the meanmisalignment values between stellar and gaseous angular momenta isinconsistent with a purely external origin. The distribution ofkinematic misalignment values is found to be strongly dependent on theapparent flattening and the level of rotational support of galaxies,with flatter, fast rotating objects hosting preferentially corotatinggaseous and stellar systems. In a third of the cases, the distributionand kinematics of the gas underscore the presence of non-axisymmetricperturbations of the gravitational potential. Consistent with previousstudies, the presence of dust features is always accompanied by gasemission while the converse is not always true. A considerable range ofvalues for the [OIII]/Hβ ratio is found both across the sample andwithin single galaxies. Despite the limitations of this ratio as anemission-line diagnostic, this finding suggests either that a variety ofmechanisms is responsible for the gas excitation in E and S0 galaxies orthat the metallicity of the interstellar material is quiteheterogeneous.
| The Ages of Elliptical Galaxies from Infrared Spectral Energy Distributions
The mean ages of early-type galaxies obtained from the analysis ofoptical spectra give a mean age of 8 Gyr at z=0, with 40% being youngerthan 6 Gyr. Independent age determinations are possible by usinginfrared spectra (5-21 μm), which we have obtained with the InfraredSpectrograph on Spitzer. This age indicator is based on the collectivemass-loss rate of stars, in which mass loss from AGB stars produces asilicate emission feature at 9-12 μm. This feature decreases morerapidly than the shorter wavelength continuum as a stellar populationages, providing an age indicator. From observations of 30 nearbyearly-type galaxies, 29 show a spectral energy distribution dominated bystars, and one has significant emission from the ISM and is excluded.The infrared age indicators for the 29 galaxies show them all to be old,with a mean age of about 10 Gyr and a standard deviation of only a fewGyr. This is consistent with the ages inferred from the values ofM/LB, but is inconsistent with the ages derived from theoptical line indices, which can be much younger. All of these ageindicators are luminosity weighted and should be correlated, even ifmultiple-age components are considered. The inconsistency indicates thatthere is a significant problem with either the infrared and theM/LB ages, which agree, or with the ages inferred from theoptical absorption lines.
| Stellar Populations of Elliptical Galaxies in Virgo Cluster. I. The Data and Stellar Population Analysis
We have determined spectroscopic ages of elliptical galaxies in theVirgo Cluster using spectra of very high signal-to-noise ratio(S/N>100 Å-1). We observed eight galaxies with theSubaru Telescope and have combined this sample with six galaxiespreviously observed with the WHT. To determine their ages, we have useda new method based on the Hγσ age indicator,which is virtually independent of the effects of metallicity. Apart fromages we have estimated abundances of various elements. In this paper wepresent the observations, the data reduction, and the reliability of theHγσ method. The results of this investigation arepresented in a companion paper.
| Star Formation Histories of Nearby Elliptical Galaxies. II. Merger Remnant Sample
This work presents high signal-to-noise spectroscopic observations of asample of six suspected merger remnants, selected primarily on the basisof H I tidal debris detections. Single stellar population analysis ofthese galaxies indicates that their ages, metallicities, andα-enhancement ratios are consistent with those of a representativesample of nearby elliptical galaxies. The expected stellar population ofa recent merger remnant, a young age combined with low [α/Fe], isnot seen in any H I-selected galaxy. However, one galaxy (NGC 2534) isfound to deviate from the Z-plane in the sense expected for a mergerremnant. Another galaxy (NGC 7332), selected by other criteria, bestmatches the merger remnant expectations.
| Nearby early-type galaxies with ionized gas. II. Line-strength indices for 18 additional galaxies
We previously presented a data-set of line-strength indices for 50early-type galaxies in the nearby Universe. The galaxy sample is biasedtoward galaxies showing emission lines, located in environmentscorresponding to a broad range of local galaxy densities, althoughpredominantly in low density environments. The present addendum enlargesthe above data-set of line-strength indices by analyzing 18 additionalearly-type galaxies (three galaxies, NGC 3607, NGC 5077 and NGC 5898were presented in the previous set). We measured 25 line-strengthindices, defined by the Lick IDS "standard" system (Trager et al. 1998,ApJS, 116, 1; Worthey & Ottaviani 1997, ApJS, 111, 377), for 7luminosity weighted apertures and 4 gradients of each galaxy. Thisaddendum presents the line-strength data-set and compares it with theavailable data in the literature.
| The X-ray emission properties and the dichotomy in the central stellar cusp shapes of early-type galaxies
The Hubble Space Telescope has revealed a dichotomy in the centralsurface brightness profiles of early-type galaxies, which havesubsequently been grouped into two families: core, boxy, anisotropicsystems; and cuspy (`power-law'), discy, rotating ones. Here weinvestigate whether a dichotomy is also present in the X-ray propertiesof the two families. We consider both their total soft emission(LSX,tot), which is a measure of the galactic hot gascontent, and their nuclear hard emission (LHX,nuc), mostlycoming from Chandra observations, which is a measure of the nuclearactivity. At any optical luminosity, the highest LSX,totvalues are reached by core galaxies; this is explained by their beingthe central dominant galaxies of groups, subclusters or clusters, inmany of the logLSX,tot (ergs-1) >~ 41.5 cases.The highest LHX,nuc values, similar to those of classicalactive galactic nuclei (AGNs), in this sample are hosted only by core orintermediate galaxies; at low luminosity AGN levels, LHX,nucis independent of the central stellar profile shape. The presence ofoptical nuclei (also found by HST) is unrelated to the level ofLHX,nuc, even though the highest LHX,nuc are allassociated with optical nuclei. The implications of these findings forgalaxy evolution and accretion modalities at the present epoch arediscussed.
| Group, field and isolated early-type galaxies - II. Global trends from nuclear data
We have derived ages, metallicities and enhanced-element ratios[α/Fe] for a sample of 83 early-type galaxies essentially ingroups, the field or isolated objects. The stellar-population propertiesderived for each galaxy correspond to the nuclear re/8aperture extraction. The median age found for Es is 5.8+/-0.6 Gyr andthe average metallicity is +0.37+/-0.03 dex. For S0s, the median age is3.0+/-0.6 Gyr and [Z/H]= 0.53+/-0.04 dex. We compare the distribution ofour galaxies in the Hβ-[MgFe] diagram with Fornax galaxies. Ourelliptical galaxies are 3-4 Gyr younger than Es in the Fornax cluster.We find that the galaxies lie in a plane defined by [Z/H]= 0.99logσ0- 0.46 log(age) - 1.60, or in linear terms Z~σ0× (age) -0.5. More massive (largerσ0) and older galaxies present, on average, large[α/Fe] values, and therefore must have undergone shorterstar-formation time-scales. Comparing group against field/isolatedgalaxies, it is not clear that environment plays an important role indetermining their stellar-population history. In particular, ourisolated galaxies show ages differing by more than 8 Gyr. Finally weexplore our large spectral coverage to derive log(O/H) metallicity fromthe Hα and NIIλ6584 and compare it with model-dependent[Z/H]. We find that the O/H abundances are similar for all galaxies, andwe can interpret it as if most chemical evolution has already finishedin these galaxies.
| Group, field and isolated early-type galaxies - I. Observations and nuclear data
This is the first paper of a series on the investigation of stellarpopulation properties and galaxy evolution of an observationallyhomogeneous sample of early-type galaxies in groups, field and isolatedgalaxies.Here we present high signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) long-slit spectroscopyof 86 nearby elliptical and S0 galaxies. Eight of them are isolated,selected according to a rigorous criterion, which guarantees a genuinelow-density subsample. The present survey has the advantage of coveringa larger wavelength range than normally found in the literature, whichincludes [OIII]λ5007 and Hα, both lines important foremission correction. Among the 86 galaxies with S/N >= 15 (perresolution element, for re/8 central aperture), 57 have theirHβ-index corrected for emission (the average correction is 0.190Åin Hβ) and 42 galaxies reveal [OIII]λ5007 emission,of which 16 also show obvious Hα emission. Most of the galaxies inthe sample do not show obvious signs of disturbances nor tidal featuresin the morphologies, although 11 belong to the Arp catalogue of peculiargalaxies; only three of them (NGC 750, 751 and 3226) seem to be stronglyinteracting. We present the measurement of 25 central line-strengthindices calibrated to the Lick/IDS system. Kinematic information isobtained for the sample. We analyse the line-strength index versusvelocity dispersion relations for our sample of mainly low-densityenvironment galaxies, and compare the slope of the relations withcluster galaxies from the literature. Our main findings are that theindex-σ0 relations presented for low-density regionsare not significantly different from those of cluster E/S0s. The slopeof the index-σ0 relations does not seem to change forearly-type galaxies of different environmental densities, but thescatter of the relations seems larger for group, field and isolatedgalaxies than for cluster galaxies.
| The Ages of Elliptical Galaxies from Mid-Infrared Emission
The mid-infrared (10-20 μm) luminosity of elliptical galaxies isdominated by the integrated emission from circumstellar dust in redgiant stars. As a single stellar population evolves, the rate of dustymass loss from red giant stars decreases with time, so the mid-infraredluminosity should also decline with stellar age. To seek such acorrelation, we have used archival Infrared Space Observatory (ISO)observations to determine surface brightness profiles and central fluxesat 15 μm in 17 early-type galaxies for which stellar ages have beendetermined from optical spectral indices. The radial surface brightnessdistributions at 15 μm generally follow the stellar de Vaucouleursprofile, as expected. We find that the surface brightness ratioμ15μm/μIband is systematically higher inelliptical galaxies with ages <~5 Gyr and in galaxies that exhibitevidence of recent mergers. Within the accuracy of our observations,μ15μm/μIband shows no age dependence forages >~5 Gyr. The corresponding flux ratiosF15μm/FIband within apertures scaled to theeffective radius (Re/8) are proportional to theμ15μm/μIband ratios at larger galacticradii, indicating that no 15 μm emission is detected from centraldust clouds visible in optical images in some of our sample galaxies.Emission at 15 μm is observed in noncentral massive clouds of dustand cold gas in NGC 1316, an elliptical galaxy that is thought to havehad a recent merger. Recent Spitzer Space Telescope data also indicatethe presence of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) emission at 8μm. Several ellipticals have extended regions of 15 μm emissionthat have no obvious counterparts at other frequencies.
| The Epochs of Early-Type Galaxy Formation as a Function of Environment
The aim of this paper is to set constraints on the epochs of early-typegalaxy formation through the ``archaeology'' of the stellar populationsin local galaxies. Using our models of absorption-line indices thataccount for variable abundance ratios, we derive ages, totalmetallicities, and element ratios of 124 early-type galaxies in high-and low-density environments. The data are analyzed by comparison withmock galaxy samples created through Monte Carlo simulations taking thetypical average observational errors into account, in order to eliminateartifacts caused by correlated errors. We find that all threeparameters, age, metallicity, and α/Fe ratio, are correlated withvelocity dispersion. We show that these results are robust againstrecent revisions of the local abundance pattern at high metallicities.To recover the observed scatter we need to assume an intrinsic scatterof about 20% in age, 0.08 dex in [Z/H], and 0.05 dex in [α/Fe].All low-mass objects withM*<~1010Msolar (σ<~130kms-1) show evidence for the presence of intermediate-agestellar populations with low α/Fe ratios. About 20% of theintermediate-mass objects with1010<~M*/Msolar<~1011[110<~σ/(kms-1)<~230 both elliptical andlenticular galaxies] must have either a young subpopulation or a bluehorizontal branch. On the basis of the above relationships, valid forthe bulk of the sample, we show that the Mg-σ relation is mainlydriven by metallicity, with similar contributions from the α/Feratio (23%) and age (17%). We further find evidence for an influence ofthe environment on the stellar population properties. Massive early-typegalaxies in low-density environments seem on average ~2 Gyr younger andslightly (~0.05-0.1 dex) more metal-rich than their counterparts inhigh-density environments. No offsets in the α/Fe ratios areinstead detected. With the aid of a simple chemical evolution model, wetranslate the derived ages and α/Fe ratios into star formationhistories. We show that most star formation activity in early-typegalaxies is expected to have happened between redshifts ~3 and 5 inhigh-density environments and between redshifts 1 and 2 in low-densityenvironments. We conclude that at least 50% of the total stellar massdensity must have already formed at z~1, in good agreement withobservational estimates of the total stellar mass density as a functionof redshift. Our results suggest that significant mass growth in theearly-type galaxy population below z~1 must be restricted to lessmassive objects, and a significant increase of the stellar mass densitybetween redshifts 1 and 2 should be present, caused mainly by the fieldgalaxy population. The results of this paper further imply the presenceof vigorous star formation episodes in massive objects at z~2-5 andevolved elliptical galaxies around z~1, both observationally identifiedas SCUBA galaxies and extremely red objects, respectively.
| Star Formation Histories of Nearby Elliptical Galaxies. I. Volume-Limited Sample
This work presents high signal-to-noise ratio spectroscopic observationsof a representative sample of nearby elliptical galaxies. Theseobservations provide a strong test of models for the formation ofelliptical galaxies and their star formation histories. Combining thesedata with the González data set, a volume-limited sample of 45galaxies has been defined. Results are in agreement with previousstudies: the existence of the metallicity hyperplane and the Z-plane ofTrager and coworkers is confirmed, and the distribution is clearly dueto physical variations in stellar population parameters and notmeasurement uncertainty. Trends between stellar population parametersand galaxy structural parameters suggest that angular momentum maydetermine the chemical abundance of a galaxy at a given mass.
| The NGC 5846 Group: Dynamics and the Luminosity Function to MR=-12
We conduct a photometric and spectroscopic survey of a 10deg2 region surrounding the nearby NGC 5846 group ofgalaxies, using the Canada-France-Hawaii and Keck I telescopes to studythe population of dwarf galaxies as faint as MR=-10.Candidates are identified on the basis of quantitative surfacebrightness and qualitative morphological criteria. Spectroscopic followup and a spatial correlation analysis provide the basis for affirminggroup memberships. Altogether, 324 candidates are identified, and 83have spectroscopic membership confirmation. We argue on statisticalgrounds that a total of 251+/-10 galaxies in our sample are groupmembers. The observations, together with archival Sloan Digital SkySurvey, ROSAT, XMM-Newton, and ASCA data, suggest that the giantellipticals NGC 5846 and NGC 5813 are the dominant components ofsubgroups separated by 600 kpc in projection and embedded in a 1.6 Mpcdiameter dynamically evolved halo. The galaxy population isoverwhelmingly early type. The group velocity dispersion is 322 kms-1, its virial mass is 8.4×1013Msolar, and M/LR=320 MsolarL-1solar. The ratio of dwarfs to giants is largecompared with other environments in the Local Supercluster studied, and,correspondingly, the luminosity function is relatively steep, with afaint-end Schechter function slope of αd=-1.3+/-0.1(statistical) +/-0.1 (systematic) at our completeness limit ofMR=-12.
| Nuclear activity and the dynamics of elliptical galaxies
This Letter looks for any correlation between the internal dynamics ofelliptical galaxies and the relatively mild nuclear activity found inmany such systems. We show that there is such a relation in the sensethat the active ellipticals tend to be significantly less rotationallysupported than their inactive cousins. The correlation can partly berelated to the galaxies' luminosities: the brightest galaxies tend to bemore active and less rotationally supported. However, even at lowerluminosities the active and inactive galaxies seem to havesystematically different dynamics. This variation suggests that thereare significant large-scale structural differences between active andinactive elliptical galaxies, and hence that the existence of both typesof system cannot just be the result of random sporadic nuclear activity.
| The SAURON project - III. Integral-field absorption-line kinematics of 48 elliptical and lenticular galaxies
We present the stellar kinematics of 48 representative elliptical andlenticular galaxies obtained with our custom-built integral-fieldspectrograph SAURON operating on the William Herschel Telescope. Thedata were homogeneously processed through a dedicated reduction andanalysis pipeline. All resulting SAURON data cubes were spatially binnedto a constant minimum signal-to-noise ratio. We have measured thestellar kinematics with an optimized (penalized pixel-fitting) routinewhich fits the spectra in pixel space, via the use of optimal templates,and prevents the presence of emission lines to affect the measurements.We have thus generated maps of the mean stellar velocity V, the velocitydispersion σ, and the Gauss-Hermite moments h3 andh4 of the line-of-sight velocity distributions. The mapsextend to approximately one effective radius. Many objects displaykinematic twists, kinematically decoupled components, central stellardiscs, and other peculiarities, the nature of which will be discussed infuture papers of this series.
| Core Depletion from Coalescing Supermassive Black Holes
New measurements of the stellar-mass deficits at the centers of luminouselliptical galaxies are presented. These were derived considering thefollowing observational facts. First, ``core'' galaxies, which arethought to have had their inner region depleted from the coalescence ofsupermassive black holes, show an abrupt downward deviation of theirinner light profile relative to their outer Sérsic profile.Second, ``power-law'' galaxies, having undisturbed profiles and nopartially depleted core, have inner light profiles that display nodeparture from the inward extrapolation of their outer Sérsicprofile. The central stellar deficits have therefore been derived fromthe difference in flux between the Hubble Space Telescope observedgalaxy light profiles and the inward extrapolation of each galaxy'souter Sérsic profile. This approach gives flux deficits ~0.1% ofthe total galaxy light and mass deficits that are ~2 times each galaxy'scentral supermassive black hole mass. These results are in agreementwith the theoretical expectations of mass ejection from binary blackhole mergers and also with popular ΛCDM models of hierarchicalgalaxy formation. It is also explained why this result is some 10 timessmaller than current observational estimates of the central mass deficitand therefore implies a merger history for giant elliptical galaxiesthat is 1 order of magnitude less violent than previously suggested.
| Companions to Isolated Elliptical Galaxies: Revisiting the Bothun-Sullivan Sample
We investigate the number of physical companion galaxies for a sample ofrelatively isolated elliptical galaxies. The NASA/IPAC ExtragalacticDatabase (NED) has been used to reinvestigate the incidence of satellitegalaxies for a sample of 34 elliptical galaxies, first investigated byBothun & Sullivan using a visual inspection of Palomar Sky Surveyprints out to a projected search radius of 75 kpc. We have repeatedtheir original investigation using data cataloged in NED. Nine of theseelliptical galaxies appear to be members of galaxy clusters; theremaining sample of 25 galaxies reveals an average of +1.0+/-0.5apparent companions per galaxy within a projected search radius of 75kpc, in excess of two equal-area comparison regions displaced by 150-300kpc. This is significantly larger than the +0.12+/-0.42companions/galaxy found by Bothun & Sullivan for the identicalsample. Making use of published radial velocities, mostly availablesince the completion of the Bothun-Sullivan study, identifies thephysical companions and gives a somewhat lower estimate of +0.4companions per elliptical galaxy. This is still 3 times larger than theoriginal statistical study, but given the incomplete and heterogeneousnature of the survey redshifts in NED, it still yields a firm lowerlimit on the number (and identity) of physical companions. An expansionof the search radius out to 300 kpc, again restricted to sampling onlythose objects with known redshifts in NED, gives another lower limit of4.5 physical companions per galaxy. (Excluding five elliptical galaxiesin the Fornax Cluster, this average drops to 3.5 companions perelliptical.) These physical companions are individually identified andlisted, and the ensemble-averaged radial density distribution of theseassociated galaxies is presented. For the ensemble, the radial densitydistribution is found to have a falloff consistent withρ~R-0.5 out to approximately 150 kpc. For non-FornaxCluster companions the falloff continues out to the 300 kpc limit of thesurvey. The velocity dispersion of these companions is found to reach amaximum of 350 km s-1 at around 120 kpc, after which theyfall at a rate consistent with Keplerian falloff. This falloff may thenindicate the detection of a cut-off in the mass-density distribution inthe elliptical galaxies' dark matter halo at ~100 kpc.
| A Correlation between Light Profile and [Mg/Fe] Abundance Ratio in Early-Type Galaxies
We explore possible correlations between light profile shapes, asparameterized by the Sérsic index n or the concentration indexCre(1/3), and relevant stellar populationparameters in early-type galaxies. Mean luminosity-weighted ages,metallicities, and abundance ratios were obtained from spectra of veryhigh signal-to-noise ratio and stellar population models that synthesizegalaxy spectra at the resolution given by their velocity dispersions,σ, in combination with an age indicator(Hγσ) that is virtually free of the effects ofmetallicity. We do not find any significant correlation between n [orCre(1/3)] and mean age or metallicity, but we dofind a strong positive correlation of the shape parameters with Mg/Feabundance ratio. This dependence is as strong as the Mg/Fe-σ andCre(1/3)-σ relations. We speculate thatearly-type galaxies settle up their structure on timescales in agreementwith those imposed by their Mg/Fe ratios. This suggests that the globalstructure of larger galaxies, with larger Mg/Fe ratios and shortertimescales, was already in place at high z, without experiencing asignificant time evolution.
| Evidence for a New Elliptical-Galaxy Paradigm: Sérsic and Core Galaxies
We fitted the surface-brightness profiles of 21 elliptical galaxiesusing both the Sérsic function and a new empirical model thatcombines an inner power law with an outer Sérsic function. Theprofiles are combinations of deconvolved Hubble Space Telescope (HST)profiles from the literature and ellipse fits to the full WFPC2 mosaicimages and thus span a radial range from ~0.02" to about twice thehalf-light radius. We are able to accurately fit the entire profilesusing either the Sérsic function or our new model. In doing so,we demonstrate that most, if not all, so-called ``power-law'' galaxiesare better described as ``Sérsic galaxies''-they are well modeledby the three-parameter Sérsic profile into the limits of HSTresolution-and that ``core'' galaxies are best understood as consistingof an outer Sérsic profile with an inner power-law cusp, which isa downward deviation from the inward extrapolation of the Sérsicprofile. This definition of cores resolves ambiguities that result whenthe popular ``Nuker law'' is fitted to the profiles of ellipticals andbulges, particularly at lower luminosities. We also find that using theNuker law to model core-galaxy nuclear profiles systematicallyoverestimates the core radii by factors of 1.5-4.5 and underestimatesthe inner power-law slope by ~20%-40% or more.
| Peculiarities and populations in elliptical galaxies. I. An old question revisited
Morphological peculiarities, as defined from isophote asymmetries andnumber of detected shells, jets or similar features, have been estimatedin a sample of 117 E classified galaxies, and qualified by an ad hocΣ2 index. The overall frequency of ``peculiar'' objects(Pec subsample) is 32.5%. It decreases with the cosmic density of theenvironment, being minimal for the Virgo cluster, the densestenvironment in the sampled volume. This environmental effect is strongerfor galaxies with relatively large Σ2.The Pec subsample objects are compared with ``normal'' objects (Nopsubsample) as regards their basic properties. Firstly, theysystematically deviate from the Fundamental Plane and the Faber-Jacksonrelation derived for the Nop subsample, being too bright for their mass.Secondly, the dust content of galaxies, as estimated from IRAS fluxes,are similar in both subsamples. Third, the same is true of the frequencyof Kinematically Distinct cores (KDC), suggesting that KDC andmorphological peculiarities do not result from the same events in thehistory of E-galaxies.Using the Nop sample alone, we obtain very tight reference relationsbetween stellar population indicators (U-B, B-V, B-R, V-I,Mg2, Hβ, , Mgb) and the central velocitydispersion σ0. The discussion of the residuals of theserelations allows us to classify the Pec galaxies in two families i.e.the YP or NGC 2865 family, and the NP or NGC 3923 one. Galaxies in thefirst group show consistent evidence for a younger stellar populationmixed with the old one, in agreement with classical results (Schweizeret al. \cite{Schweizer1990}; Schweizer & Seitzer\cite{Schweizer1992}). The second group, however, has ``normal``, orreddish, populations. It is remarkable that a fraction (circa 40%) ofmorphologically perturbed objects do not display any signature of ayoung population, either because the event responsible for thepecularity is too ancient, or because it did not produce significantstar formation (or eventually that the young sub-population has highmetallicity).A preliminary attempt is made to interpret the populations of Pecobjects by combining a young Single Stellar Population with a Nopgalaxy, with only limited success, perhaps largely due to uncertaintiesin the SSP indices used.Based in part on observations collected at the Observatoire deHaute-Provence.Figures \ref{fig1}-\ref{fig3} are only available in electronic form athttp://www.edpsciences.orgTable 10 is only available in electronic form at the CDS via anonymousftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/423/833
| Near-infrared imaging of ellipticals: surface brightness profiles and photometry
We present near-infrared K-band imaging of a large sample of candidatemerger remnant galaxies and Hickson Compact Group ellipticals. We derivelight profile indices, effective radii and surface brightnesses, as wellas total K-band magnitudes. We find that the light distributions of themerger remnant candidates are consistent with those of `normal'ellipticals, and scatter around a mean profile index of (1/n) = 0.20.Many of our sample galaxies have surface brightness profiles that arenot well described by a de Vaucouleurs law (1/n= 0.25), and we discussthe implications of this on the derived total magnitudes. Comparing thetotal K magnitudes calculated by extrapolating a de Vaucouleurs profileand those derived using a generalized Sérsic form, we find that asignificant bias is introduced if the de Vaucouleurs law is not a gooddescription of the actual light profile.
| Black Hole Masses and the Fundamental Plane of BL Lacertae Objects
We report on measurements of the stellar velocity dispersion (σ)from the optical spectra of the host galaxies of four BL Lac objects.Together with our earlier results on seven BL Lac objects (Falomo andcoworkers) and with the previously derived photometric and structuralproperties, these data are used to construct the fundamental plane (FP)of the BL Lac hosts. We find that the BL Lac objects follow the same FPas low-redshift radio galaxies and inactive luminous ellipticalgalaxies, in agreement with similar results presented by Barth andcoworkers. This indicates that the photometric, structural, andkinematical properties of the host galaxies of BL Lac objects areindistinguishable from those of inactive massive elliptical galaxies.Using the correlation between black hole mass (MBH) andσ in nearby elliptical galaxies, we derive the masses of thecentral black hole in BL Lac objects. These masses, in the range from6×107 to 9×108 Msolar, areconsistent with the values derived from the bulge luminosity and appearto be linearly correlated with the mass of the galaxies(MBH~0.001Mbulge).
| Color Gradients in Early-Type Galaxies in Abell 2199
We performed B- and R-band surface photometry for E/S0 galaxies in thenearby rich cluster Abell 2199 to investigate their B-R color gradients[d(B-R)/dlogr]. Our aims are to study statistical properties of thecolor gradients and, by comparing them with those in less denseenvironments, to examine environmental dependence of color gradients inelliptical galaxies. We studied the distribution of the B-R colorgradients in the cluster elliptical galaxies and found that the meanvalue of the color gradients is -0.09+/-0.04 mag dex-1, whichcan be converted to a metallicity gradient (dlogZ/dlogr) of -0.3+/-0.1.The gradient seems to be comparable to that expected by a recentmonolithic collapse model. We further studied the relations between theB-R color gradients and global properties of the galaxies. Our datasuggest that for the galaxies brighter than an R-band magnitude of ~15mag, which is roughly equivalent to L* at the distance of the cluster,brighter galaxies tend to have steeper color gradients. In addition, forthe galaxies with effective radii larger than ~3", which nearlycorresponds to L* considering the correlation between galaxy luminosityand effective radius for elliptical galaxies, the galaxies with largereffective radii seem to have steeper color gradients. These trends couldappear if elliptical galaxies formed through the monolithic collapsescenario. On the contrary, it is found based on the published data thatsuch trends are not clearly seen for elliptical galaxies in less denseenvironments, suggesting that elliptical galaxies in sparse environmentsformed by galaxy mergers, although the distribution of the colorgradients is quite similar to that in the rich cluster. In other words,our data and those in the literature suggest that there is anenvironmental dependence in the relationship between color gradient andglobal properties of elliptical galaxies, while the distribution of thevalues of color gradients is nearly independent of galaxy environment.These results do not fully support the view that elliptical galaxies inrich clusters formed through monolithic collapse, while those in sparseenvironments formed through galaxy mergers, because the latterelliptical galaxies are expected to have color gradients shallower onaverage than the former. This apparent conflict may be reconciled bytaking into account star formation and subsequent chemical enrichmentinduced by a galaxy merger, which may allow a merger remnant to acquirea metallicity gradient and thus compensate the dilution of the existingmetallicity gradients in the progenitors by mixture of stars during thegalaxy merger.
| A New Empirical Model for the Structural Analysis of Early-Type Galaxies, and A Critical Review of the Nuker Model
The Nuker law was designed to match the inner few (~3-10) arcseconds ofpredominantly nearby (<~30 Mpc) early-type galaxy light profiles; itwas never intended to describe an entire profile. The Sérsicmodel, on the other hand, was developed to fit the entire profile;however, because of the presence of partially depleted galaxy cores, theSérsic model cannot always describe the very inner region. Wehave therefore developed a new empirical model consisting of an innerpower law, a transition region, and an outer Sérsic model toconnect the inner and outer structure of elliptical galaxies. We haveadditionally explored the stability of the Nuker model parameters.Surprisingly, none are found to be stable quantities; all are shown tovary systematically with a profile's fitted radial extent, and often bymore than 100%. Considering elliptical galaxies spanning a range of 7.5mag, we reveal that the central stellar densities of the underlying hostgalaxies increase with galaxy luminosity until the onset of coreformation, detected only in the brightest elliptical galaxies. Wesuggest that the so-called power-law galaxies may actually be describedby the Sérsic model over their entire radial range.Based on observations made with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope,obtained at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated bythe Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., underNASA contract NAS 5-26555.
| Star Formation Histories of Early-Type Galaxies. I. Higher Order Balmer Lines as Age Indicators
We have obtained blue integrated spectra of 175 nearby early-typegalaxies, covering a wide range in galaxy velocity dispersion andemphasizing those with σ<100 km s-1. Galaxies havebeen observed both in the Virgo Cluster and in lower densityenvironments. The main goals are the evaluation of higher order Balmerlines as age indicators and differences in stellar populations as afunction of mass, environment, and morphology. In this first paper, ouremphasis is on presenting the methods used to characterize the behaviorof the Balmer lines through evolutionary population synthesis models.Lower σ galaxies exhibit a substantially greater intrinsicscatter, in a variety of line-strength indicators, than do higherσ galaxies, with the large intrinsic scatter setting in below aσ of 100 km s-1. Moreover, a greater contrast inscatter is present in the Balmer lines than in the lines of metalfeatures. Evolutionary synthesis modeling of the observed spectralindexes indicates that the strong Balmer lines found primarily among thelow-σ galaxies are caused by young age, rather than by lowmetallicity. Thus we find a trend between the population age and thecentral velocity dispersion, such that low-σ galaxies have youngerluminosity-weighted mean ages. We have repeated this analysis usingseveral different Balmer lines and find consistent results from onespectral indicator to another.
| Redshift-Distance Survey of Early-Type Galaxies: Circular-Aperture Photometry
We present R-band CCD photometry for 1332 early-type galaxies, observedas part of the ENEAR survey of peculiar motions using early-typegalaxies in the nearby universe. Circular apertures are used to tracethe surface brightness profiles, which are then fitted by atwo-component bulge-disk model. From the fits, we obtain the structuralparameters required to estimate galaxy distances using theDn-σ and fundamental plane relations. We find thatabout 12% of the galaxies are well represented by a pure r1/4law, while 87% are best fitted by a two-component model. There are 356repeated observations of 257 galaxies obtained during different runsthat are used to derive statistical corrections and bring the data to acommon system. We also use these repeated observations to estimate ourinternal errors. The accuracy of our measurements are tested by thecomparison of 354 galaxies in common with other authors. Typical errorsin our measurements are 0.011 dex for logDn, 0.064 dex forlogre, 0.086 mag arcsec-2 for<μe>, and 0.09 for mRC,comparable to those estimated by other authors. The photometric datareported here represent one of the largest high-quality and uniformall-sky samples currently available for early-type galaxies in thenearby universe, especially suitable for peculiar motion studies.Based on observations at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO),National Optical Astronomy Observatory, which is operated by theAssociation of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., undercooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation (NSF);European Southern Observatory (ESO); Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory(FLWO); and the MDM Observatory on Kitt Peak.
| A new catalogue of ISM content of normal galaxies
We have compiled a catalogue of the gas content for a sample of 1916galaxies, considered to be a fair representation of ``normality''. Thedefinition of a ``normal'' galaxy adopted in this work implies that wehave purposely excluded from the catalogue galaxies having distortedmorphology (such as interaction bridges, tails or lopsidedness) and/orany signature of peculiar kinematics (such as polar rings,counterrotating disks or other decoupled components). In contrast, wehave included systems hosting active galactic nuclei (AGN) in thecatalogue. This catalogue revises previous compendia on the ISM contentof galaxies published by \citet{bregman} and \citet{casoli}, andcompiles data available in the literature from several small samples ofgalaxies. Masses for warm dust, atomic and molecular gas, as well asX-ray luminosities have been converted to a uniform distance scale takenfrom the Catalogue of Principal Galaxies (PGC). We have used twodifferent normalization factors to explore the variation of the gascontent along the Hubble sequence: the blue luminosity (LB)and the square of linear diameter (D225). Ourcatalogue significantly improves the statistics of previous referencecatalogues and can be used in future studies to define a template ISMcontent for ``normal'' galaxies along the Hubble sequence. The cataloguecan be accessed on-line and is also available at the Centre desDonnées Stellaires (CDS).The catalogue is available in electronic form athttp://dipastro.pd.astro.it/galletta/ismcat and at the CDS via anonymousftp to\ cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or via\http://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/405/5
| New UBVRI color distributions in E-type galaxies. II. Central and mean metallicities color distributions in E-type galaxies. II.
Central and mean metallicities are calculated for a sample of 40early-type galaxies, whose color gradients were reported in a previouspaper (Idiart et al. \cite{Idiart2002}). The present color-metallicitycalibration was derived from a grid of evolutionary models which fit thecolor-magnitude sequence of ellipticals in Coma and Virgo clusters. Themean metallicity gradient derived from our data is (Delta [Fe/H]/Deltalog r) = -0.26 +/- 0.08 and the mean sample average metallicity is<[Fe/H]> = 0.01 +/- 0.11 (rmsd). Central and mean metallicitiesare correlated with the central velocity dispersion, consistent with theinterpretation by metallicity variations of the color-magnitude sequenceand of color gradients. Age effects are also discussed, in particularconcerning the interpretation of the Hβ line strength in thoseobjects.Based partially on data collected at the Observatory of Haute-Provence.}
| Efficient multi-Gaussian expansion of galaxies
We describe a simple, efficient, robust and fully automatic algorithmfor the determination of a multi-Gaussian expansion (MGE) fit to galaxyimages, to be used as a parametrization for the galaxy stellar surfacebrightness. In most cases the least-squares solution found by thismethod essentially corresponds to the minimax, constant relative error,MGE approximation of the galaxy surface brightness, with the chosennumber of Gaussians. The algorithm is well suited to be used withmultiple-resolution images (e.g. Hubble Space Telescope (HST) andground-based images). It works orders of magnitude faster and is moreaccurate than currently available methods. An alternative, morecomputing-intensive, fully linear algorithm that is guaranteed toconverge to the smallest χ2 solution is also discussed.Examples of MGE fits are presented for objects with HST or ground-basedphotometry, including galaxies with significant isophote twist.
| Galaxy cores as relics of black hole mergers
We investigate the hypothesis that the cores of elliptical galaxies andbulges are created from the binding energy liberated by the coalescenceof supermassive binary black holes during galaxy mergers. Assuming thatthe central density profiles of galaxies were initially steep powerlaws, ρ ~r -2 , we define the `mass deficit' as the massin stars that had to be removed from the nucleus in order to produce theobserved core. We use non-parametric deprojection to compute the massdeficit in a sample of 35 early-type galaxies with high-resolutionimaging data. We find that the mass deficit correlates well with themass of the nuclear black hole, consistent with the predictions ofmerger models. We argue that cores in haloes of non-interacting darkmatter particles should be comparable in size to those observed in thestars.
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