Brightest Cluster Galaxy Profile Shapes

Abstract

We model the surface brightness profiles of a sample of 119 Abell Brightest Cluster Galaxies (BCG), finding a generalised deVaucouleurs R^{1/n} law, where n is a free parameter, to be appropriate. Departures from the R^{1/4} law are shown to be a real feature of galaxy profiles, not due to observational errors or coupling of n with the other model parameters. BCG typically have values of n greater than 4. The shape parameter n is shown to correlate with effective half-light radius, such that the larger BCG have larger values of n. This continues a trend noticed amongst ordinary elliptical galaxies and dwarf ellipticals, such that the fainter galaxies have smaller values of n.

To appear in Ap.J., 16 pages

Cited by in corpus (135)

• Secular Evolution and the Formation of Pseudobulges in Disk Galaxies
• Structure and Formation of Elliptical and Spheroidal Galaxies
• A concise reference to (projected) Sersic R^{1/n} quantities, including Concentration, Profile Slopes, Petrosian indices, and Kron Magnitudes
• Empirical models for Dark Matter Halos. I. Nonparametric Construction of Density Profiles and Comparison with Parametric Models
• HST photometry of dwarf elliptical galaxies in Coma, and an explanation for the alleged structural dichotomy between dwarf and bright elliptical galaxies
• K-band Properties of Galaxy Clusters and Groups: Brightest Cluster Galaxies and Intracluster Light
• The Masses of Nuclear Black Holes in Luminous Elliptical Galaxies and Implications for the Space Density of the Most Massive Black Holes
• A Correlation between Galaxy Light Concentration and Supermassive Black Hole Mass
• The Structure of Classical Bulges And Pseudobulges: The Link Between Pseudobulges And Sersic Index
• Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA): Structural Investigation of Galaxies via Model Analysis (SIGMA)
• Intracluster Light in Nearby Galaxy Clusters: Relationship to the Halos of Brightest Cluster Galaxies
• Structure of Disk Dominated Galaxies I. Bulge/Disk Parameters, Simulations, and Secular Evolution
• A New Empirical Model for the Structural Analysis of Early-type Galaxies and a Critical Review of the Nuker Model
• Evidence for a New Elliptical-Galaxy Paradigm: Sersic and Core Galaxies
• The Millennium Galaxy Catalogue: Bulge/Disc Decomposition of 10095 Nearby Galaxies
• Red Mergers and the Assembly of Massive Elliptical Galaxies: the Fundamental Plane and its Projections
• An investigation into the prominence of spiral galaxy bulges
• E and S0 galaxies in the central part of the Coma cluster: Ages, metal abundances and dark matter
• Galactic accretion and the outer structure of galaxies in the CDM model
• Weak homology of elliptical galaxies
• On the estimation of galaxy structural parameters: the Sersic Model
• Black Holes in Pseudobulges and Spheroidals: A Change in the Black Hole-Bulge Scaling Relations at Low Mass
• The ATLAS3D project - XVII. Linking photometric and kinematic signatures of stellar discs in early-type galaxies
• The specific entropy of elliptical galaxies: an explanation for profile-shape distance indicators?
• Fundamental Planes, and the "barless" M-sigma relation, for supermassive black holes
• Hubble Space Telescope Imaging of Brightest Cluster Galaxies
• Intracluster light and the extended stellar envelopes of cD galaxies: An analytical description
• Structural Properties of Central Galaxies in Groups and Clusters
• Surface density profiles of collisionless disc merger remnants
• The Carnegie-Irvine Galaxy Survey. III. The Three-Component Structure of Nearby Elliptical Galaxies
• Determination of the Dark Matter Profile of Abell 2199 from Integrated Starlight
• A sample of radio galaxies spanning three decades in radio luminosity - I. The host-galaxy properties and black-hole masses
• Interpreting Debris from Satellite Disruption In External Galaxies
• The stellar velocity dispersion of the lens galaxy in MG2016+112 at z=1.004
• Measuring the Diffuse Optical Light in Abell 1651
• Density-potential pairs for spherical stellar systems with Sersic light-profiles and (optional) power-law cores
• New insights to the photometric structure of Blue Compact Dwarf Galaxies from deep Near-Infrared studies I. Observations, surface photometry and decomposition of surface brightness profiles
• A review of elliptical and disc galaxy structure, and modern scaling laws
• Galaxy Light Concentration. I. Index stability and the connection with galaxy structure, dynamics, and supermassive black holes
• Luminosity Dependence in the Fundamental Plane Projections of Elliptical Galaxies
• Abundance gradient slopes versus mass in spheroids: predictions by monolithic models
• The environmental dependence of the stellar mass-size relation in STAGES galaxies
• The Carnegie-Irvine Galaxy Survey. II. Isophotal Analysis
• Correlations among global photometric properties of disk galaxies
• Depleted cores, multi-component fits, and structural parameter relations for luminous early-type galaxies
• The HST/ACS Coma Cluster Survey III. Structural Parameters of Galaxies using single-Sérsic Fits
• Little change in the sizes of the most massive galaxies since z = 1
• Photometric Properties and Scaling Relations of Early Type Brightest Cluster Galaxies
• Structure of Brightest Cluster Galaxies and Intracluster Light
• The Planetary Nebula Luminosity Function of M87 and the Intracluster Stars of Virgo
• Observational Properties of Ultra-Diffuse Galaxies in the Field: Field-UDGs are Predominantly Blue and Starforming
• The SAURON Project - XIX. Optical and near-infrared scaling relations of nearby elliptical, lenticular and Sa galaxies
• The effects of seeing on Sersic profiles
• A Study of Nine High-Redshift Clusters of Galaxies : III. HST Morphology of Clusters 0023+0423 and 1604+4304
• Quantitative Morphology of Galaxies in the Core of the Coma Cluster
• The Luminosity Profiles of Brightest Cluster Galaxies
• Triaxial stellar systems following the r^{1/n} luminosity law: an analytical mass-density expression, gravitational torques and the bulge/disc interplay
• The Millennium Galaxy Catalogue: The local supermassive black hole mass function in early- and late-type galaxies
• The luminosity -- halo-mass relation for brightest cluster galaxies
• The Host in Blue Compact Galaxies: Structural Properties and Scaling Relations
• Deep Near Infrared Mapping of Young and Old Stars in Blue Compact Dwarf Galaxies
• Star formation activities in early-type brightest cluster galaxies
• An Observational Guide to Identifying Pseudobulges and Classical Bulges in Disk Galaxies
• Empirical Models for Dark Matter Halos. III. The Kormendy relation and the log(rho_e)-log(R_e) relation
• The formation of the [alpha/Fe] radial gradients in the stars of elliptical galaxies
• The merger rates and sizes of galaxies across the peak epoch of star formation from the HiZELS survey
• The Bright End of the Luminosity Function of Red Sequence Galaxies
• Comparing dynamical and photometric-stellar masses of early-type galaxies at z ~ 1
• Evolution of BCGs structural parameters in the last $\sim$6 Gyr: feedback processes versus merger events
• The baryon content of groups and clusters of galaxies in the FABLE simulations
• The origin of wide-angle tailed radio galaxies
• The Peculiar Motions of Early-Type Galaxies in Two Distant Regions. IV. The Photometric Fitting Procedure
• Feedback and Brightest Cluster Galaxy Formation: ACS Observations of the Radio Galaxy TN J1338--1942 at z=4.1
• A wide angle tail radio galaxy in the COSMOS field: evidence for cluster formation
• Fossil Groups Origins: I. RX J105453.3+552102 a very massive and relaxed system at z~0.5
• The Fundamental Plane of Radio Galaxies
• Massive Ellipticals at High Redshift: NICMOS Imaging of Z~1 Radio Galaxies
• Sizing up Partially-Depleted Galaxy Cores
• Dissipational versus Dissipationless Galaxy Formation and the Dark Matter Content of Galaxies
• HST/NICMOS observations of the host galaxies of powerful radio sources: Does size matter?
• Two-Dimensional Modelling of Optical HST and Infrared Tip-Tilt Images of Quasar Host Galaxies
• On the evolutionary status of early-type galaxies in clusters at z~0.2 - I. The Fundamental Plane
• The Structure and Star Formation History of Early-Type Galaxies in the UDF/GRAPES Survey
• The Tolman Surface Brightness Test for the Reality of the Expansion. I. Calibration of the Necessary Local Parameters
• The stellar host in blue compact dwarf galaxies: the need for a two-dimensional fit
• PetroFit: A Python Package for Computing Petrosian Radii and Fitting Galaxy Light Profiles
• Environmental Dependence of the Structure of Brightest Cluster Galaxies
• Quantitative Morphology of Galaxies from the SDSS I: Luminosity in Bulges and Disks
• Diversity in the stellar velocity dispersion profiles of a large sample of Brightest Cluster Galaxies $z\le 0.3$
• Quantitative Morphology of the Intermediate-Redshift Galaxy Cluster Abell 2443 from Ground-Based Imaging -- Evidence for a galaxy concentration index correlation with cluster density
• Formation channels of slowly rotating early-type galaxies
• The low-luminosity galaxy population in the NGC 5044 Group
• Defining the (Black Hole)-Spheroid Connection with the Discovery of Morphology-Dependent Substructure in the $M_{\mathrm{BH}}$--${\mathrm{n}}_{\mathrm{sph}}$ and $M_{\mathrm{BH}}$--${\mathrm{R}}_{\mathrm{e},\mathrm{sph}}$ Diagrams: New Tests for Advanced Theories and Realistic Simulations
• $R_{\mathrm{e}}$. I. Understanding galaxy sizes, associated luminosity densities, and the artificial division of the early-type galaxy population
• Constraints On the Size Evolution of Brightest Cluster Galaxies
• The Environmental Dependence of Brightest Cluster Galaxies: Implications for Large-Scale Flows
• Convection and AGN Feedback in Clusters of Galaxies
• The influence of bulge profile shapes on claims for a scale-free Hubble sequence for spirals
• Ongoing growth of the brightest cluster galaxies via major dry mergers in the last ~6 Gyr
• Revisiting Brightest Cluster Galaxy Evolution with the Las Campanas Distant Cluster Survey
• HST NIR Snapshot Survey of 3CR Radio Source Counterparts II: An Atlas and Inventory of the Host Galaxies, Mergers and Companions
• The Complete Local Volume Groups Sample -- III. Characteristics of group central radio galaxies in the Local Universe
• The Evolution of Brightest Cluster Galaxies in the Nearby Universe I: Colours and Stellar Masses from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and Wide Infrared Survey Explorer
• Brightest Group Galaxies: Stellar Mass and Star Formation Rate (paper I)
• How Special are Brightest Cluster Galaxies? The Impact of Near-Infrared Luminosities on Scaling Relations for BCGs
• Sersic Properties of Disc Galaxy Mergers
• The Extended Fe distribution in the intracluster medium and the implications regarding AGN Heating
• Hydrostatic equilibrium profiles for gas in elliptical galaxies
• A Search for the Most Massive Galaxies. III. Global and Central Structure
• Globular cluster systems in fossil groups: NGC6482, NGC1132 and ESO306-017
• AGN Jet Power, Formation of X-ray Cavities, and FR I/II Dichotomy in Galaxy Clusters
• The KMOS Cluster Survey (KCS) III: fundamental plane of cluster galaxies at $z\simeq 1.80$ in JKCS 041
• Exploring Relations Between BCG \& Cluster Properties in the SPectroscopic IDentification of eROSITA Sources Survey from $0.05<z<0.3$
• Two Galaxy Clusters: A3565 and A3560
• Detection of a Thick Disk in the edge-on Low Surface Brightness Galaxy ESO 342-G017: I. VLT Photometry in V and R Bands
• The evolution of the Fundamental Plane of radio galaxies from z~0.5 to the present day
• The COSMOS-Web ring: in-depth characterization of an Einstein ring lensing system at z~2
• Measuring Dark Matter in Galaxies: The Mass Fraction Within 5 Effective Radii
• Hot versus Cold: the Dichotomy in Spherical Accretion of Cooling Flows onto Supermassive Black Holes in Elliptical Galaxies, Galaxy Groups and Clusters
• Realistic triaxial density--potential--force profiles for stellar systems and dark matter halos
• Serendipitous discovery of a massive cD galaxy at z=1.096: Implications for the early formation and late evolution of cD galaxies
• Surface Brightness and Intrinsic Luminosity of Ellipticals
• The size--mass and other structural parameter ($n,{\mu }_z,R_z$) relations for local bulges/spheroids from multicomponent decompositions
• The scaling relations of early--type galaxies in clusters I. Surface photometry in seven nearby clusters
• Quiescent luminous red galaxies (LRGs) as cosmic chronometers: on the significance of mass and environmental dependence
• Abundance profiles in cooling-core clusters: a fossil record of past AGN-driven convection?
• Mirages in galaxy scaling relations
• Hubble Space Telescope Near Infrared Snapshot Survey of 3CR radio source counterparts III: Radio galaxies and quasars in context
• The Morphological Transformation of Red-Sequence Galaxies in the Distant Cluster XMMU J1229+0151
• Stellar Mass and 3.4 $\mu$m M/L Ratio Evolution of Brightest Cluster Galaxies in COSMOS since z ~ 1.0
• The Evolution of Brightest Cluster Galaxies in the Nearby Universe II: The star-formation activity and the Stellar Mass from Spectral Energy Distribution
• The Galaxy Structure-Redshift Relationship
• The Star Formation Reference Survey. IV. Stellar mass distribution of local star-forming galaxies
• A Morphology Catalog of Galaxies in CEERS: Evolution in the Size and Color Gradients of Galaxies Since Cosmic Dawn
• Multi-spin stellar velocity maps of the most massive galaxies