Surface Brightness Plateau in S4G Galaxies

Alan Sipols,Alex Pavlovich

doi:10.3390/galaxies8020048

Abstract

Using 3.6-μm data from 2112 galaxies, we show that, contrary to widely held expectations of a continuous steep decline, radial surface brightness profiles of galaxies tend to flatten and form extended plateaus beyond 27–28 magAB/arcsec2. This phenomenon could be explained by the presence of extended stellar populations dominated by low-mass stars in galactic outskirts. The flattening of radial brightness profiles questions the artificial exponential extrapolations of brightness data and the automatic assumption that light always declines considerably faster than mass density, presenting an empirical challenge for the dark matter hypothesis.

Highlights

It is widely expected that, luminosity declines faster than mass density in galaxies as one moves from the center towards the periphery
Discussion brightness plateau in the Spitzer 3.6 μm surface brightness profile aggregated for a sample of 214 galaxies
The results presented above are consistent with our earlier findings based on 214 galaxies [7]

Summary

Introduction

It is widely expected that, luminosity declines faster than mass density in galaxies as one moves from the center towards the periphery This assumption served as one of the roots of the. It is widely expected that, luminosity declines than mass in galaxiesofasthe onedark movesmatter idea of non-baryonic dark matter and remains a faster cornerstone of density the popularity from the center towards the periphery. This assumption served as one of the roots of the idea of nonparadigm [1,2,3,4,5]. Weand found that the hypothesis our results, and discuss their relevance

Data and Method

Results

Discussion