Abstract
We use N-body experiments to study the survival of power-law density cusps in mergers of spherical galaxy models. Steep cusps (e.g. ρ∝r-2) are preserved during mergers of equal-mass models; this may be viewed as a general consequence of the incomplete violent relaxation observed in such mergers. Progenitor profile has a strong effect on remnant shape; steep cusps produce oblate remnants. If bright ellipticals form by hierarchical mergers of faint ones, the lack of steep cusps in these galaxies is somewhat surprising.
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