Open AccessHaloes around edge‐on disc galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
Author(s) -
Zibetti Stefano,
White Simon D. M.,
Brinkmann Jon
Publication year - 2004
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 - 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2004.07235.x
Subject(s) - physics , sky , astrophysics , halo , galaxy , astronomy , disc galaxy , disc , luminous infrared galaxy , galaxy formation and evolution
ABSTRACT We present a statistical analysis of halo emission for a sample of 1047 edge‐on disc galaxies imaged in five bands by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). Stacking the homogeneously rescaled images of the galaxies, we can measure surface brightnesses as deep as μ r ∼ 31 mag arcsec −2 . The results strongly support the almost ubiquitous presence of stellar haloes around disc galaxies, whose spatial distribution is well described by a power law ρ∝ r −3 , in a moderately flattened spheroid ( c / a ∼ 0.6) . The colour estimates in g – r and r – i , although uncertain, give a clear indication for extremely red stellar populations, hinting at old ages and/or non‐negligible metal enrichment. These results support the idea of haloes being assembled via early merging of satellite galaxies.