The Kormendy relation of massive elliptical galaxies at z~1.5. Evidence for size evolution ?

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dc.creatorLonghetti, M.
dc.creatorSaracco, P.
dc.creatorSevergnini, P.
dc.creatorDella Ceca, R.
dc.creatorMannucci, F.
dc.creatorBender, R.
dc.creatorDrory, N.
dc.creatorFeulner, G.
dc.creatorHopp, U.
dc.date2006-10-09
dc.date2006-10-17
dc.date.accessioned2026-07-07T10:23:50Z
dc.date.available2026-07-07T10:23:50Z
dc.descriptionWe present the morphological analysis based on HST-NIC2 (0.075 arcsec/pixel) images in the F160W filter of a sample of 9 massive field (> 10^{11} M_\odot) galaxies spectroscopically classified as early-types at 1.2<z<1.7. Our analysis shows that all of them are bulge dominated systems. In particular, 6 of them are well fitted by a de Vaucouleurs profile (n=4) suggesting that they can be considered pure elliptical galaxies. The remaining 3 galaxies are better fitted by a Sersic profile with index 1.9<n<2.3 suggesting that a disk-like component could contribute up to 30% to the total light of these galaxies. We derived the effective radius R_e and the mean surface brightness <mu_e> within R_e of our galaxies and we compared them with those of early-types at lower redshifts. We find that the surface brightness <mu_e> of our galaxies should get fainter by 2.5 mag from z~1.5 to z~0 to match the surface brightness of the local ellipticals with comparable R_e, i.e. the local Kormendy relation. Luminosity evolution without morphological changes can only explain half of this effect, as the maximum dimming expected for an elliptical galaxy is ~1.6 mag in this redshift range. Thus, other parameters, possibly structural, may undergo evolution and play an important role in reconciling models and observations. Hypothesizing an evolution of the effective radius of galaxies we find that R_e should increase by a factor 1.5 from z~1.5 to z~0.
dc.descriptionAccepted for publication in MNRAS, 15 pages, 8 figures
dc.identifierhttps://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0610241
dc.identifierhttp://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0610241
dc.identifierMon.Not.Roy.Astron.Soc.374:614-626,2007
dc.identifierdoi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2006.11171.x
dc.identifier.urihttp://salesiana.dossiersoluciones.com/handle/123456789/175974
dc.subjectAstrophysics
dc.titleThe Kormendy relation of massive elliptical galaxies at z~1.5. Evidence for size evolution ?
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