The flattening and the orbital structure of early-type galaxies and collisionless N-body binary disc mergers

We use oblate axisymmetric dynamical models including dark haloes to determine the orbital structure of intermediate mass to massive early-type galaxies in the Coma galaxy cluster. We find a large variety of orbital compositions. Averaged over all sample galaxies the unordered stellar kinetic energy in the azimuthal and the radial direction are of the same order, but they can differ by up to 40 per cent in individual systems. In contrast, both for rotating and non-rotating galaxies the vertical kinetic energy is on average smaller than in the other two directions. This implies that even most of the rotating ellipticals are flattened by an anisotropy in the stellar velocity dispersions. Using three-integral axisymmetric toy models, we show that flattening by stellar anisotropy maximizes the entropy for a given density distribution. Collisionless disc merger remnants are radially anisotropic. The apparent lack of strong radial anisotropy in observed early-type galaxies implies that they may not have formed from mergers of discs unless the influence of dissipational processes was significant.     

Tailoring triaxial N-body models via a novel made-to-measure method

The made-to-measure N -body method slowly adapts the particle weights of an N -body model, whilst integrating the trajectories in an assumed static potential, until some constraints are satisfied, such as optimal fits to observational data. I propose a novel technique for this adaption procedure, which overcomes several limitations and shortcomings of the original method. The capability of the new technique is demonstrated by generating realistic N -body equilibrium models for dark matter haloes with prescribed density profile, triaxial shape and slowly outwardly growing radial velocity anisotropy.     

The role of minor mergers in the recent star formation history of early-type galaxies

We demonstrate that the large scatter in the ultraviolet (UV) colours of intermediate-mass early-type galaxies in the local Universe and the inferred low-level recent star formation (RSF) in these objects can be reproduced by minor mergers in the standard Λ cold dark matter (ΛCDM) cosmology. Numerical simulations of mergers with mass ratios ≤1:4, with reasonable assumptions for the ages, metallicities and dust properties of the merger progenitors, produce good agreement with the observed UV colours of the early-type population, if the infalling satellites are assumed to have (cold) gas fractions ≥20 per cent. Early-types that satisfy  ( NUV − r ) ≲ 3.8  are likely to have experienced mergers with mass ratios between 1:4 and 1:6 within the last ∼1.5 Gyr, while those that satisfy  3.8 < ( NUV − r ) < 5.5  are consistent with either recent mergers with mass ratios ≤1:6 or mergers with higher mass ratios that occurred more than ∼1.5 Gyr in the past. We demonstrate that the early-type colour–magnitude relations and colour distributions, in both the UV and optical spectral ranges, are consistent with the expected frequency of minor merging activity in the standard ΛCDM cosmology at low redshift. We present a strong plausibility argument for minor mergers to be the principal mechanism behind the large UV scatter and associated low-level RSF observed in early-type galaxies in the nearby Universe.     

Flattened Jaffe models for galaxies

This paper introduces a class of galactic models which extend Jaffe's spherical models to axisymmetric systems, and then studies the properties of their densities and two-integral even distribution functions. The models have finite total mass and finite densities which, at large distances, decay radially like r ⁻⁴ except on the major axis, and like r ⁻³ on the major axis. The more flattened the galaxy, the stronger is the dependence of the even distribution functions on the angular momenta of its stars. Their distribution functions can be obtained by using the maximum entropy principle or assuming the anisotropy of the models. In particular, some formulae analogous to those of Hunter & Qian are obtained to calculate two-integral odd distribution functions, and they can be applied to obtain the distribution functions under the assumption of anisotropy for the oblate models.     

Prolate Jaffe models for galaxies

We introduce a class of prolate Jaffe models for elliptical galaxies, which are a further extension of Jaffe's spherical models of axisymmetric elliptical systems, and study the properties of their densities, circular velocities, velocity dispersions and two-integral even distribution functions. The form of the potential allows the density to be expressed simply as a function of the potential and radial coordinate R . The models have finite total mass and their densities at large distances decay radially as r ⁻⁴, except on the major axis, where the densities decay as r ⁻³. It is known from Hunter's formulae that the velocity dispersions for prolate models can be expressed in terms of elementary functions of R and z , unlike those for the oblate Jaffe models recently given by Jiang, and that the prolate models have anisotropic velocity distributions. Thus the prolate models are easier to study than the oblate models. It is also found that the two-integral even distribution functions on the physical boundary of the galaxies increase monotonically with the relative energy, for the prolate models. Furthermore, numerical calculation shows that the two-integral even distribution functions generated from their densities are non-negative, even for very 'squeezed' prolate Jaffe models. However, the edge-on projected surface densities for these prolate models cannot be expressed as simply as for the oblate models.     

Regularized orbit models unveiling the stellar structure and dark matter halo of the Coma elliptical NGC 4807

This is the second in a series of papers dedicated to unveiling the mass structure and orbital content of a sample of flattened early-type galaxies in the Coma cluster. The ability of our orbit libraries to reconstruct internal stellar motions and the mass composition of a typical elliptical in the sample is investigated by means of Monte Carlo simulations of isotropic rotator models. The simulations allow a determination of the optimal amount of regularization needed in the orbit superpositions. It is shown that under realistic observational conditions and with the appropriate regularization, internal velocity moments can be reconstructed to an accuracy of ≈15 per cent; the same accuracy can be achieved for the circular velocity and dark matter fraction. In contrast, the flattening of the halo remains unconstrained. Regularized orbit superpositions are applied to a first galaxy in our sample, NGC 4807, for which stellar kinematical observations extend to  3  r _eff  . The galaxy seems dark-matter dominated outside   r > 2  r _eff  . Logarithmic dark matter potentials are consistent with the data, as well as NFW profiles, mimicking logarithmic potentials over the observationally sampled radial range. In both cases, the derived stellar mass-to-light ratio ϒ agrees well with independently obtained mass-to-light ratios from stellar population analysis. The achieved accuracy is  Δϒ≈ 0.5  . Kinematically, NGC 4807 is characterized by mild radial anisotropy outside   r > 0.5  r _eff  , becoming isotropic towards the centre. Our orbit models hint at either a distinct stellar component or weak triaxiality in the outer parts of the galaxy.     

Specific angular momentum of disc merger remnants and the λR-parameter

We use two-dimensional kinematic maps of simulated binary disc mergers to investigate the  λ_R  -parameter, which is a luminosity-weighted measure of projected angular momentum per unit mass. This parameter was introduced to subdivide the SAURON sample of early-type galaxies in so-called fast  λ_R > 0.1  and slow rotators  λ_R < 0.1  . Tests on merger remnants reveal that  λ_R  is a robust indicator of the true angular momentum content in elliptical galaxies. We find the same range of  λ_R  values in our merger remnants as in the SAURON galaxies. The merger mass ratio is decisive in transforming fast rotators into slow rotators in a single binary merger, the latter being created mostly in an equal-mass merger. Slow rotators have a  λ_R  which does not vary with projection. The confusion rate with face-on fast rotators is very small. Mergers with a gas component form slow rotators with smaller ellipticities than collisionless merger remnants have, and are in much better agreement with the SAURON slow rotators. Remergers of merger remnants are slow rotators, but tend to have too high ellipticities. Fast rotators maintain the angular momentum content from the progenitor disc galaxy if merger mass ratio is high. Some SAURON galaxies have values of  λ _R   as high as our progenitor disc galaxies.     

Stellar populations in the centres of brightest cluster galaxies

This paper is part of a series devoted to the study of the stellar populations in brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs), aimed at setting constraints on the formation and evolution of these objects. We have obtained high signal-to-noise ratio, long-slit spectra of 49 BCGs in the nearby Universe. Here, we derive single stellar population (SSP)-equivalent ages, metallicities and α-abundance ratios in the centres of the galaxies using the Lick system of absorption line indices. We systematically compare the indices and derived parameters for the BCGs with those of large samples of ordinary elliptical galaxies in the same mass range. We find no significant differences between the index-velocity dispersion relations of the BCG data and those of normal ellipticals, but we do find subtle differences between the derived SSP parameters. The BCGs show, on average, higher metallicity ([ Z /H]) and α-abundance ([E/Fe]) values. We analyse possible correlations between the derived parameters and the internal properties of the galaxies (velocity dispersion, rotation, luminosity) and those of the host clusters (density, mass, distance from BCG to X-ray peak, presence of cooling flows), with the aim of dissentangling if the BCG properties are more influenced by their internal or host cluster properties. The SSP parameters show very little dependence on the mass or luminosity of the galaxies, or the mass or density of the host clusters. Of this sample, 26 per cent show luminosity-weighted ages younger than 6 Gyr, probably a consequence of recent – if small – episodes of star formation. In agreement with previous studies, the BCGs with intermediate ages tend to be found in cooling-flow clusters with large X-ray excess.