877 research outputs found
On the estimation of galaxy structural parameters: the Sersic Model
This paper addresses some questions which have arisen from the use of the
S\'ersic r^{1/n} law in modelling the luminosity profiles of early type
galaxies. The first issue deals with the trend between the half-light radius
and the structural parameter n. We show that the correlation between these two
parameters is not only real, but is a natural consequence from the previous
relations found to exist between the model-independent parameters: total
luminosity, effective radius and effective surface brightness. We also define a
new galaxy concentration index which is largely independent of the image
exposure depth, and monotonically related with n. The second question concerns
the curious coincidence between the form of the Fundamental Plane and the
coupling between _e and r_e when modelling a light profile. We explain,
through a mathematical analysis of the S\'ersic law, why the quantity
r_e_e^{0.7} appears almost constant for an individual galaxy, regardless of
the value of n (over a large range) adopted in the fit to the light profile.
Consequently, Fundamental Planes of the form r_e_e^{0.7} propto sigma_0^x
(for any x, and where sigma_0 is the central galaxy velocity dispersion) are
insensitive to galaxy structure. Finally, we address the problematic issue of
the use of model-dependent galaxy light profile parameters versus
model-independent quantities for the half-light radii, mean surface brightness
and total galaxy magnitude. The former implicitly assume that the light profile
model can be extrapolated to infinity, while the latter quantities, in general,
are derived from a signal-to-noise truncated profile. We quantify
(mathematically) how these parameters change as one reduces the outer radius of
an r^{1/n} profile, and reveal how these can vary substantially when n>4.Comment: 10 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA
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