Cores and the Kinematics of Early-Type Galaxies

Abstract

I have combined the Emsellem et al. ATLAS3D rotation measures of a large sample of early-type galaxies with HST-based classifications of their central structure to characterize the rotation velocities of galaxies with cores. "Core galaxies" rotate slowly, while "power-law galaxies" (galaxies that lack cores) rotate rapidly, confirming the analysis of Faber et al. Significantly, the amplitude of rotation sharply discriminates between the two types in the -19 > Mv > -22 domain over which the two types coexist. The slow rotation in the small set of core galaxies with Mv > -20, in particular, brings them into concordance with the more massive core galaxies. The ATLAS3D "fast-rotating" and "slow-rotating" early-type galaxies are essentially the same as power-law and core galaxies, respectively, or the Kormendy & Bender two families of elliptical galaxies based on rotation, isophote shape, and central structure. The ATLAS3D fast rotators do include roughly half of the core galaxies, but their rotation-amplitudes are always at the lower boundary of that subset. Essentially all core galaxies have ATLAS3D rotation-amplitudes lambda_(R_e/2) <= 0.25, while all galaxies with lambda_(R_e/2) > 0.25 and figure eccentricity > 0.2 lack cores. Both figure rotation and the central structure of early-type galaxies should be used together to separate systems that appear to have formed from "wet" versus "dry" mergers.

24 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal

References in corpus (5)

• The SAURON project -- IX. A kinematic classification for early-type galaxies
• The SAURON project -- X. The orbital anisotropy of elliptical and lenticular galaxies: revisiting the (V/sigma,epsilon) diagram with integral-field stellar kinematics
• Dissipation and Extra Light in Galactic Nuclei: II. 'Cusp' Ellipticals
• Sizing up Partially-Depleted Galaxy Cores
• The ACS Fornax Cluster Survey. IV. Deprojection of the Surface Brightness Profiles of Early-Type Galaxies in the Virgo and Fornax Clusters: Investigating the "Core/Power-Law Dichotomy"

Cited by in corpus (29)

• Coevolution (Or Not) of Supermassive Black Holes and Host Galaxies
• Structure and Kinematics of Early-Type Galaxies from Integral-Field Spectroscopy
• The SINFONI Black Hole Survey: The Black Hole Fundamental Plane revisited and the paths of (co-) evolution of supermassive black holes and bulges
• Effect of environment on galaxies mass-size distribution: unveiling the transition from outside-in to inside-out evolution
• The MASSIVE Survey - V. Spatially-Resolved Stellar Angular Momentum, Velocity Dispersion, and Higher Moments of the 41 Most Massive Local Early-Type Galaxies
• The MASSIVE Survey - VII. The Relationship of Angular Momentum, Stellar Mass and Environment of Early-Type Galaxies
• Depleted Galaxy Cores and Dynamical Black Hole Masses
• Depleted cores, multi-component fits, and structural parameter relations for luminous early-type galaxies
• Central Stellar Mass Deficits in the Bulges of Local Lenticular Galaxies, and the Connection with Compact z ~ 1.5 Galaxies
• The ATLAS3D Project -- XXIII. Angular momentum and nuclear surface brightness profiles
• Elliptical Galaxies and Bulges of Disk Galaxies: Summary of Progress and Outstanding Issues
• X-ray Scaling Relations of core and coreless E and S0 Galaxies
• Angular Momenta, Dynamical Masses, and Mergers of Brightest Cluster Galaxies
• The MASSIVE Survey IX: Photometric Analysis of 35 High Mass Early-Type Galaxies with HST WFC3/IR
• Formation channels of slowly rotating early-type galaxies
• SDSS-IV MaNGA: Uncovering the Angular Momentum Content of Central and Satellite Early-type Galaxies
• Merger histories of brightest group galaxies from MUSE stellar kinematics
• The supermassive black hole and double nucleus of the core elliptical NGC5419
• Detailed shapes of the line-of-sight velocity distributions in massive early-type galaxies from non-parametric spectral models
• Morphology and surface photometry of a sample of isolated early-type galaxies from deep imaging
• Unravelling the Origin of the Counter-Rotating Core in IC 1459 with KMOS and MUSE
• Early-Type Galaxies: Elliptical and S0 Galaxies, or Fast and Slow Rotators
• Early Type Galaxy Core Phase Densities
• MaNGA integral-field stellar kinematics of LoTSS radio galaxies: Luminous radio galaxies tend to be slow rotators
• The LOFAR view of massive early-type galaxies: Transition from radio AGN to host emission
• A Spitzer-IRS view of early-type galaxies with cuspy/core nuclei and with fast/slow rotation
• LeMMINGs. V. Nuclear activity and bulge properties: a detailed multi-component decomposition of $e$-MERLIN Palomar galaxies with $HST$
• Revisiting the Dichotomy of Early-type Galaxies
• Connections between Central Intensity Ratio and hot gas properties of early-type galaxies