Weak Homology of Bright Elliptical Galaxies

Abstract

Studies of the Fundamental Plane of early-type galaxies, from small to intermediate redshifts, are often carried out under the guiding principle that the Fundamental Plane reflects the existence of an underlying mass-luminosity relation for such galaxies, in a scenario where elliptical galaxies are homologous systems in dynamical equilibrium. Here I will re-examine the issue of whether empirical evidence supports the view that significant systematic deviations from strict homology occur in the structure and dynamics of bright elliptical galaxies. In addition, I will discuss possible mechanisms of dynamical evolution for these systems, in the light of some classical thermodynamical arguments and of recent N-body simulations for stellar systems under the influence of weak collisionality.KeywordsGlobular ClusterElliptical GalaxyStellar SystemEquilibrium SequencePressure AnisotropyThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.