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The edges of the stellar populations of early type spirals as probed by their radial brightness profiles

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 December 2006

J. Beckman ,
L. Gutiérrez ,
R. Aladro ,
P. Erwin  and
M. Pohlen
J. Beckman
Affiliation:
Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, Tenerife, Spain. jeb@iac.es Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Spain
L. Gutiérrez
Affiliation:
Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, Tenerife, Spain. jeb@iac.es Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ensenada, México. leonel@astrosen.unam.mx
R. Aladro
Affiliation:
Universidad de La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain. rebeca_aladro@yahoo.es
P. Erwin
Affiliation:
Max Planck Institut für Astrophysik, Garching, Germany. erwin@mpe.mpg.es
M. Pohlen
Affiliation:
Kapteyn Instituut, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, Netherlands. pohlen@astro.rug.nl
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Abstract

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We have derived radial sky-subtracted surface brightness profiles of a sample of 42 face-on nearby early-type spiral galaxies, classified as unbarred, from SDSS data as well as our own observations (INT/WFC) at La Palma. A key objective was to derive the fraction of truncated profiles. We find that only a small minority 7% of the galaxies are obviously truncated within the limits of the measured surface brightness range, while some 20% show exponential disc profiles but with a shallower inner portion near the centre: classical “Freeman Type II” profiles (Freeman, 197). Half of the discs show a single unbroken exponential (“type I”) brightness profile with no evidence of truncation out to the edge of detectability, while the remainder show “antitruncations”: external profiles less steep than those of the internal disc (Type III). A general profile classification scheme based on these and other recent related measurements is presented, and will be of use in probing disc formation scenarios.

Keywords

Galaxy disksbrightness profilestruncationsantitruncations
Type
Contributed Papers
Information
Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union , Volume 2 , Symposium S241: Stellar Populations as Building Blocks of Galaxies , December 2006 , pp. 495 - 496
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2007

References

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