Structure and Dynamics of Elliptical Galaxies

Dynamics of elliptical galaxies.

Elliptical galaxies were once thought to be similar in their structure and dynamics to rotationally flattened bodies like stars. The discovery that elliptical galaxies rotate much more slowly than a fluid body with the same shape has led to a qualitative change in our understanding of the dynamics of these systems. It is now believed that elliptical galaxies are fully triaxial in shape. Self-co...

Structure, Formation and Ages of Elliptical Galaxies

The structural properties of elliptical galaxies are consistent with their formation in a merging hierarchy. In this picture, the role of gaseous processes and dissipation decreased with increasing mass creating preferentially rotationally flattend disky ellipticals (and S0s) at lower luminosities and boxy, anisotropic ellipticals (often with peculiar kinematics) at higher luminosities. However...

Nuclear activity and the dynamics of elliptical galaxies

This paper looks for any correlation between the internal dynamics of elliptical galaxies and the relatively mild nuclear activity found in many such systems. We show that there is such a relation in the sense that the active ellipticals tend to be significantly less rotationally supported than their inactive cousins. The correlation can partly be related to the galaxies’ luminosities: the brig...

Internal Dynamics, Structure, and Formation of Dwarf Elliptical Galaxies: II. Rotating Versus Non-Rotating Dwarfs

Herzberg Fellow Permanent address: UCO/Lick Observatory, University of California, Santa Cruz, 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz,

Elliptical Galaxies