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On the Formation of Elliptical Galaxies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 August 2015

J. R. Gott III*
Affiliation:
California Institute of Technology, Dept. of Astronomy, Pasadena, Calif., U.S.A.

Abstract

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Simple collapse and violent relaxation models produce sharply cut off envelopes with ϱ(r) ∝ r–4, whereas actual elliptical galaxies have more extended envelopes approximately given by ϱ(r) ∝ r–3 as implied by Hubble's Law. Numerical models are presented, showing that when cosmological infall effects are included, galaxies are produced with more extended envelopes having a ϱ(r) ∝ r–2.8 dependence in excellent agreement with Hubble's Law. We have also computed a realistic rotating model of an E5 galaxy which includes infall effects and where the angular momentum of the galaxy is gained through tidal interactions with neighboring protogalaxies. The envelope displays a Hubble dependence but at great distances shows a cutoff due to the tidal effects. The model is compared to the E5 galaxy NGC 4697 and provides an outstandingly good fit to the observations. Except for simple scaling, this excellent fit is produced without the use of any free fitting parameters.

Type
Part II/Flattened Systems
Copyright
Copyright © Reidel 1975 

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