Lecture 5: Surface brightness and the Sersic profile

Surface brightness definition Surface brightness terminology The Sersic profile: Some useful equations Exponential profile De Vaucouleurs profile Some examples: Profiles Equations
Galaxies AS 3011 1

Surface brightness from AS1001

Measure of flux concentration Units, mag/sq arcsec Range: 8-30 mag/sq/arsec High = compact = Low number! Low = diffuse = High number! Definition:
f 4 R 2 2.5log10 ( I ) [analag. to m 2.5log10 ( f )] m + 5log10 ( R) =I=

Distance independent in local Universe

Galaxies AS 3011 2

Measuring light profiles

NB, I(r) actually comes from an azimuthal average, i.e of the light between isophotes of the same shape as the galaxy NB we do not always see the steep rise in the core if a galaxy has a small core, the atmospheric seeing may blur it out to an apparent size equal to the seeing (e.g. 1 arcsec) Often central profiles are artificially flattened this way. Need to model PSF
Galaxies AS 3011

azimuthal angle

Example of a galaxy light profile

Galaxies AS 3011

The Sersic profile

Empirically devised by Sersic (1963) as a good fitting fn

r n I( r) = I0 exp( )
I(r) = intensity at radius r I0 = central intensity (intensity at centre) = scalelength (radius at which intensity drops by e-1) index (shape parameter) n = Sersic Can be used to describe most structures, e.g.,
Elliptical: 1.5 < n < 20 Pseudo-bulge: 1 < n < 2 Disc: n~1 Bulge: 1.5 < n < 10 Bar: n~0.5

Total light profile = sum of components.

Galaxies AS 3011 7

Sersic shapes

Galaxies AS 3011

Connecting profile shape to total flux

The best method for measuring the flux of a galaxy is to measure its profile, fit a Sersic fn, and then derive the flux.
2

L=

I(r)rdr = 2I r exp(( r )
0 0 0 0 1

) dr

Substitute : x = ( r ) n , r = x n, dr = nx n 1 L = 2I0 x nnx n 1 exp( x ) dx

0

L = 2I0 2 n x 2 n 1 exp( x ) dx
0

Recognise this as the Gamma fn (Euler's integral or factorial fn) :

(z) =

t
0

z-1 t

e dt = ( z 1)!

So : L = 2I0 2 n(2 n ) Or for integer n : L = I0 2 2 n (2 n 1)!= I0 2 (2 n )!

Galaxies AS 3011 9

L = (2n)! 0 2 - Very important and useful formulae which connects the total luminosity to directly measureable structural parameters. - Most useful when expressed in magnitudes:

100.4 m = (2 n )!100.4 2 0.4 m = 0.4 + log[(2 n )! 2 ] m = 5log( ) 2.5log[(2 n )! ]

- For n=1: - For n=4:

m = o 5log10 2 m = o 5log10 12.7

o I o
10

- So for fixed m as

- Note: SBs are like mags low value = high SB, high value=low SB !!
Galaxies AS 3011

Q1) If a galaxy with a Sersic index of 1 has a measured SB of =21.7 mag/sq arcsec, a scale-length of 2 and lies at a redshift of 0.1 what is its absolute magnitude ? [Assume Ho=100km/s/Mpc]

Galaxies AS 3011

m = o 5log10 2 m = 21.7 1.5 2 m = 18.2 mags v Hd z = , v = H o d => z = o c c cz d= = 300 Mpc Ho m M = 5log10 d + 25 M = 19.2 mags

11

Q2) for an elliptical with n=4 is typically 15 mag/sq arcsec at m=19.7 mags what does this equate too ?

m = o 5log10 12.7

= 10 0.2[ o m 12.7] = 3.3 104 ''

Too small to measure therefore one often redefines the profile in terms of the half-light radius, Re, also known as the effective radius.

Galaxies AS 3011

12

 Scale-length to small to measure for high-n systems so adopt half-light radius (Re) instead.
Re

2
k

rI(r)dr =
0
0

2 2

rI(r)dr
0

2 (2 n, k ) = (2 n ) = 2 t 2 n 1e t dt =
0

2 n 1 t

e , where : Re = k n , or, =

Re kn

sub for and rewrite Sersic profile as: Can now

I ( r) = Io exp([ r R ( e

] n ) = Io exp(k[ r R ] n ) e n)

k can be derived numerically for n=4 as k=7.67

Galaxies AS 3011

I ( r) = Io exp(7.67[ R R ] 4 )
e

13

Therefore: Re = 3459 4 From previous example: = 3.3 10 '' I.e., Re is measureable. Re = 1.15'' Central SB is also very difficult to get right for ellipticals as its so high, much easier to measure the surface brightness at the half-light radius. I.e., 3.33

Ie = Io exp(7.67) = Io10
x

[Re :10 x = e ln[10 I ( r) = Ie 10 10 I ( r) = Ie 10

3.33

= e x ln10 ]
1 e

3.33[ R R ] 4
1

3.33[( R R ) 4 1]
e

Galaxies AS 3011

I ( r) = Ie exp{7.67[( R R ) 4 1]}
e

14

This expression is known as the de Vaucouleurs r1/4 law and is commonly used to profile ellipticals galaxies. Note luminosity can be recast for n=4 as:
L = Io 2 (2 n )! For : n = 4, = L = 7.2Ie Re2 Re
3.33 3459 , I0 = Ie 10

Recently the more generalised form with n free has become popular with galaxies having a range of n from 10-->0.5 (Note n=0.5 is a Guassian-like profile) as it fits variety of structures we see: the

I ( r) = Ie exp{ k[( r R )
e
Galaxies AS 3011

1]}

15

Sab c ".
In reality profiles are a combination of bulge plus disc profiles with the bulges exhibiting a Sersic profile and the disc an exponential.

Total light for 2 component system etc.

including the bulge, we can describe the profile as the sum of a spiral and an elliptical power law: (R) = 0(d) exp(-R/Rd) + e(b) exp(-7.67 ([R/Re]1/4 -1)) but if the bulge is rather flat (pseudo-bulge) we can just use a second n=1 exponential with a smaller radius: (R) = 0(d) exp(-R/Rd) + 0(b) exp(-R/Rb) for the disk-plus bulge version, we get the total luminosity L = 2 0(d) Rd2 + 7.22 Re2 e(b)

Galaxies AS 3011

17

2 component system

Galaxies AS 3011

18

Bulge to disc ratio

a useful quantity to describe a spiral is the bulge-to-total light ratio, which we can find from the two luminosity terms
type S0 Sa Sb Sc
Galaxies AS 3011

B/T 0.65 0.55 0.3 0.15

19

Size of a galaxy?
Measuring the size of a galaxy is non-trivial Not clear where galaxy ends Some truncate and some dont Need a standard reference By convention galaxy sizes are specified by the half-light radius (Re) or by scale-length () New quantitative classification scheme is based on the stellar mass versus half-light radius plane either for the total galaxy or for components.work in progress
Galaxies AS 3011 20

10