Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2005-10-24
Astron.J.131:2018-2034,2006
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
20 pages, 8 figures. Accepted by AJ. The full set of figures in Appendix B is available at http://www.physics.upenn.edu/~ber
Scientific paper
10.1086/499770
We describe the results of a search for galaxies with large (> 350 km/s) velocity dispersions. The largest systems we have found appear to be the extremes of the early-type galaxy population: compared to other galaxies with similar luminosities, they have the largest velocity dispersions and the smallest sizes. However, they are not distant outliers from the Fundamental Plane and mass-to-light scaling relations defined by the bulk of the early-type galaxy population. They may host the most massive black holes in the Universe, and their abundance and properties can be used to constrain galaxy formation models. Clear outliers from the scaling relations tend to be objects in superposition (angular separations smaller than 1 arcsec), evidence for which comes sometimes from the spectra, sometimes from the images, and sometimes from both. The statistical properties of the superposed pairs, e.g., the distribution of pair separations and velocity dispersions, can be used to provide useful information about the expected distribution of image multiplicities, separations and flux ratios due to gravitational lensing by multiple lenses, and may also constrain models of their interaction rates.
Bernardi Marco
Brinkmann John
Frieman Josh
Miller Christopher J.
Nichol Robert C.
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