Open AccessDo galaxy mergers form elliptical galaxies? A comparison of kinematic and photometric properties
Author(s) -
James Phil,
Bate Cheryl,
Wells Martyn,
Wright Gillian,
Doyon René
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
monthly notices of the royal astronomical society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.058
H-Index - 383
eISSN - 1365-2966
pISSN - 0035-8711
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-8711.1999.02903.x
Subject(s) - physics , astrophysics , fundamental plane (elliptical galaxies) , elliptical galaxy , surface brightness , galaxy , galaxy merger , supergiant , astronomy , stars , population , luminous infrared galaxy , surface brightness fluctuation , brightness , lenticular galaxy , demography , sociology
We present near‐infrared K ‐band imaging and spectroscopy of a sample of galaxy mergers, which we use to derive light profile indices, absolute magnitudes and central velocity dispersions. We find that the light distributions of mergers more nearly resemble those of ellipticals than those of bulges, but that the mergers lie well away from the Fundamental Plane defined by the ellipticals. We interpret this as being due to enhancement of the K ‐band surface brightness of the mergers by a significant population of supergiant stars, and independent evidence for such a population is inferred from measurements of the depth of the 2.3‐μm CO absorption feature.