The 6dF Galaxy Survey: Fundamental Plane data

Abstract

We report the 6dFGS Fundamental Plane (6dFGSv) catalogue that is used to estimate distances and peculiar velocities for nearly 9,000 early-type galaxies in the local (z$<$0.055) universe. Velocity dispersions are derived by cross-correlation from 6dF V-band spectra with typical S/N of 12.9 \AA$^{-1}$ for a sample of 11,315 galaxies; the median velocity dispersion is 163 kms$^{-1}$ and the median measurement error is 12.9%. The photometric Fundamental Plane (FP) parameters (effective radii and surface brightnesses) are determined from the $JHK$ 2MASS images for 11,102 galaxies. Comparison of the independent $J$- and $K$-band measurements implies that the average uncertainty in $X_{FP}$, the combined photometric parameter that enters the FP, is 0.013 dex (3%) for each band. Visual classification of morphologies was used to select a sample of nearly 9,000 early-type galaxies that form 6dFGSv. This catalogue has been used to study the effects of stellar populations on galaxy scaling relations, to investigate the variation of the FP with environment and galaxy morphology, to explore trends in stellar populations through, along and across the FP, and to map and analyse the local peculiar velocity field.