Structure and origin of S0 galaxies. III - The luminosity distribution perpendicular to the plane of the disks in S0's

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Astronomical Photometry, Disk Galaxies, Galactic Evolution, Galactic Structure, Luminous Intensity, Andromeda Galaxy, Astronomical Photography, Graphs (Charts), Spiral Galaxies, Thickness

Scientific paper

The luminosity distribution perpendicular to the major axes of five edge-on 50 galaxies, NGC 4111, 4350, 4474, 4570, and 4762, are analyzed using the two-dimensional photographic surface photometry presented in earlier papers. The brighter parts (μB < 24μ) of the perpendicular profiles (or PP) of four of the galaxies can be fitted with a combination of a thin disk seen inclined to the line of sight and a bulge, despite considerable differences in the observed major-axis profiles among these galaxies. The fainter parts of the PP in all five galaxies require the presence of a third luminosity component, in addition to a thin disk and a bulge, termed here a "thick" disk. As evidenced from the data on these 50's, a thick disk has the following general properties: (1) it is of intermediate flattening between a bulge (z/a ≍ 1/2) and a thin disk (z/a < 0.1); (2) it is more diffuse than a thin disk, with an exponential luminosity gradient (of scale length about 1 kpc) perpendicular to the major axis; (3) it has a very shallow luminosity gradient parallel to the major axis; and (4) it has a distinctive rectangular-boxed shape in edge-on galaxies at faint surface-brightness levels (due to characteristic [3]).
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the thick disk is its apparent absence in the several spirals with appropriate data for comparison, including classes Sb-Irr and M31. Thus this investigation points out another significant structural difference between at least some S0s and some spirals, in addition to the lack of Sc-like S0's found in Paper II of this series.

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