Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Nov 1993
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1993apj...418...72z&link_type=abstract
Astrophysical Journal v.418, p.72
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
45
Galaxies: Clustering, Galaxies: Elliptical And Lenticular, Cd, Galaxies: Interactions, Galaxies: Kinematics And Dynamics, Galaxies: Photometry
Scientific paper
We present isophotal information (effective radius, surface brightness, color, and isophotal shape) for a sample of 32 elliptical galaxies and central velocity dispersions for a subset of 22 of these galaxies. Using this sample of 22 galaxies, we find that the ellipticals in compact groups lie off the "fundamental plane" defined by ellipticals in other environments because they have low velocity dispersions. Although the number of galaxies is small, the correlation of low-velocity dispersion with isophotal shape (i.e., lower velocity dispersions for "diskier" galaxies) supports the reality of the offset to low velocity dispersions. Moreover, compact group ellipticals have lower velocity dispersions than other ellipticals with the same colors. This comparison is particularly persuasive, since both quantities are distance independent. We also analyze the isophotal shapes of our larger sample of galaxies and find that the frequency of elliptical galaxies with perfectly elliptical isophotes is lower in compact groups than in other environments. In addition, we find that elliptical galaxies in compact groups are less likely to have an excess of light at 45° to the major axis (i.e., boxy isophotes) and more likely to have irregular isophotes (i.e., features that are either nonaxisymmetric or misaligned with respect to the major and minor axes) than comparable galaxies in other environments. We conclude that the environment of the compact groups, which is favorable for tidal interactions, has modified the structure and dynamics of the elliptical galaxies within the groups.
Whitmore Bradley C.
Zepf Stephen E.
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