TY - JOUR
T1 - A family of models for spherical stellar systems
AU - Tremaine, Scott
AU - Richstone, Douglas O.
AU - Byun, Yong Ik
AU - Dressler, Alan
AU - Faber, S. M.
AU - Grillmair, Carl
AU - Kormendy, John
AU - Lauer, Tod R.
N1 - Copyright:
Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 1994/2
Y1 - 1994/2
N2 - We describe a one-parameter family of models of stable spherical stellar systems in which the phase-space distribution function depends only on energy. The models have similar density profiles in their outer parts (p ∝ r-4) and central power-law density cusps, p ∝ r3-η, 0<η≤3. The family contains the Jaffe [MNRAS, 202, 995 (1983)] and Hernquist [ApJ, 356, 359 (1990)] models as special cases. We evaluate the surface brightness profile, the line-of-sight velocity dispersion profile, and the distribution function, and discuss analogs of King's core-fitting formula for determining mass-to-light ratio. We also generalize the models to a two-parameter family, in which the galaxy contains a central black hole; the second parameter is the mass of the black hole. Our models can be used to estimate the detectability of central black holes and the velocity-dispersion profiles of galaxies that contain central cusps, with or without a central black hole.
AB - We describe a one-parameter family of models of stable spherical stellar systems in which the phase-space distribution function depends only on energy. The models have similar density profiles in their outer parts (p ∝ r-4) and central power-law density cusps, p ∝ r3-η, 0<η≤3. The family contains the Jaffe [MNRAS, 202, 995 (1983)] and Hernquist [ApJ, 356, 359 (1990)] models as special cases. We evaluate the surface brightness profile, the line-of-sight velocity dispersion profile, and the distribution function, and discuss analogs of King's core-fitting formula for determining mass-to-light ratio. We also generalize the models to a two-parameter family, in which the galaxy contains a central black hole; the second parameter is the mass of the black hole. Our models can be used to estimate the detectability of central black holes and the velocity-dispersion profiles of galaxies that contain central cusps, with or without a central black hole.
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U2 - 10.1086/116883
DO - 10.1086/116883
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0000441427
VL - 107
SP - 634
EP - 644
JO - Astronomical Journal
JF - Astronomical Journal
SN - 0004-6256
IS - 2
ER -