New axes for the fundamental plane

Abstract

We argue that the stellar velocity dispersion observed in an elliptical galaxy is a good proxy for the halo velocity dispersion. As dark matter halos are almost completely characterized by a single scale parameter, the stellar velocity dispersion tells us the virial radius of the halo and the mass contained within. This permits non-dimensionalizing of the stellar mass and effective radius axes of the stellar mass fundamental plane by the virial radius and halo mass, respectively.

4 pages. Contribution to IAU Symposium 317 "The General Assembly of Halos" edited by A. Bragaglia, M. Arnaboldi, M. Rejkuba & D. Romano. Four typos corrected

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