On classical and pseudobulges: The nature of bulges of early-type spirals
Abstract
Description
Historically, galactic bulges are thought to be elliptical galaxy-like objects sitting in the middle of a generally larger disk. There are, however, more and more claims that some bulges are much more similar to disks. John Kormendy has named these bulges pseudo-bulges. In this paper I discuss some recent integral field spectroscopy of the SAURON collaboration on a sample of 24 Sa and Sab galaxies. Using their 2-dimensional maps of the stellar velocity, velocity dispersion, and absorption line strength, it is now much easier to understand the nature of nearby galactic bulges. I review several aspects of bulges, namely the surface photometry, stellar kinematics, stellar populations, presence of interstellar matter, and their behavior in the fundamental plane of early-type galaxies.
9 pages, 1 figure, to appear in Pathways through an eclectic Universe, J. H. Knapen, T. J. Mahoney, and A. Vazdekis (Eds.), ASP Conf. Ser., 2007; higher resolution version available from ftp://ftp.astro.rug.nl/exchange/PELEtier/eclectic/peletier_beckman.pdf. This is a re-submit with a better quality figure
9 pages, 1 figure, to appear in Pathways through an eclectic Universe, J. H. Knapen, T. J. Mahoney, and A. Vazdekis (Eds.), ASP Conf. Ser., 2007; higher resolution version available from ftp://ftp.astro.rug.nl/exchange/PELEtier/eclectic/peletier_beckman.pdf. This is a re-submit with a better quality figure