We present wide-field, deep K-band photometry of 98 luminous early-type galaxies (ETGs) from the MASSIVE survey based on observations taken with the WIRCam instrument on the Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope. Using these images, we extract accurate total K-band luminosities (LK) and half-light radii (Re) for this sample of galaxies. We use these new values to explore the size–luminosity and Faber–Jackson relations for massive ETGs. Within this volume-limited sample, we find clear evidence for curvature in both relations, indicating that the most luminous galaxies tend to have larger sizes and smaller velocity dispersions than expected from a simple power-law fit to less luminous galaxies. Our measured relations are qualitatively consistent with the most massive elliptical galaxies forming largely through dissipationless mergers. When the sample is separated into fast and slow rotators, we find the slow rotators to exhibit similar changes in slope with increasing LK, suggesting that low-mass and high-mass slow rotators have different formation histories. The curvatures in the Re–LK and σ–LK relations cancel, leading to a relation between dynamical mass and luminosity that is well described by a single power law: Reσ2 ∝ LKb with b ≈ 1.2. This is consistent with the tilt of the fundamental plane observed in lower mass elliptical galaxies.
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ABSTRACT -
ABSTRACT We present wide-field, deep K-band photometry of 98 luminous early-type galaxies (ETGs) from the MASSIVE survey based on observations taken with the WIRCam instrument on the Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope. Using these images, we extract accurate total K-band luminosities (LK) and half-light radii (Re) for this sample of galaxies. We use these new values to explore the size–luminosity and Faber–Jackson relations for massive ETGs. Within this volume-limited sample, we find clear evidence for curvature in both relations, indicating that the most luminous galaxies tend to have larger sizes and smaller velocity dispersions than expected from a simple power-law fit to less luminous galaxies. Our measured relations are qualitatively consistent with the most massive elliptical galaxies forming largely through dissipationless mergers. When the sample is separated into fast and slow rotators, we find the slow rotators to exhibit similar changes in slope with increasing LK, suggesting that low-mass and high-mass slow rotators have different formation histories. The curvatures in the Re–LK and σ–LK relations cancel, leading to a relation between dynamical mass and luminosity that is well described by a single power law: Reσ2 ∝ LKb with b ≈ 1.2. This is consistent with the tilt of the fundamental plane observed in lower mass elliptical galaxies.
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Abstract The stellar initial mass function (IMF) is a fundamental property in the measurement of stellar masses and galaxy star formation histories. In this work, we focus on the most massive galaxies in the nearby universe
. We obtain high-quality Magellan/LDSS-3 long-slit spectroscopy with a wide wavelength coverage of 0.4–1.01μ m for 41 early-type galaxies (ETGs) in the MASSIVE survey and derive high signal-to-noise spectra within an aperture ofR e/8. Using detailed stellar synthesis models, we constrain the elemental abundances and stellar IMF of each galaxy through full spectral modeling. All the ETGs in our sample have an IMF that is steeper than a Milky Way (Kroupa) IMF. The best-fit IMF mismatch parameter,α IMF= (M /L )/(M /L )MW, ranges from 1.1 to 3.1, with an average of 〈α IMF〉 = 1.84, suggesting that on average, the IMF is more bottom heavy than Salpeter. Comparing the estimated stellar masses with the dynamical masses, we find that most galaxies have stellar masses that are smaller than their dynamical masses within the 1σ uncertainty. We complement our sample with lower-mass galaxies from the literature and confirm that is positively correlated with , , and . From the combined sample, we show that the IMF in the centers of more massive ETGs is more bottom heavy. In addition, we find that is positively correlated with both [Mg/Fe] and the estimated total metallicity [Z/H]. We find suggestive evidence that the effective stellar surface density ΣKroupamight be responsible for the variation ofα IMF. We conclude thatσ , [Mg/Fe], and [Z/H] are the primary drivers of the global stellar IMF variation. -
Abstract We present a detailed analysis of the behavior of the triaxial Schwarzschild orbit superposition method near the axisymmetric limit. Orbit superposition modeling is the primary method used to determine dynamical masses of supermassive black holes ( M BH ) in nearby galaxies; however, prior studies have reported conflicting results when comparing the outcome from axisymmetric orbit codes with that from a triaxial orbit code in the axisymmetric limit. We show that in order to achieve (oblate) axisymmetry in a triaxial code, care needs to be taken to axisymmetrize the short-axis tube orbits and to exclude both the long-axis tube and box orbits from the orbit library. Using up to 12 Gauss–Hermite moments of the line-of-sight velocity distributions as constraints, we demonstrate the effects of orbit types on the best-fit M BH in orbit modeling of the massive elliptical galaxy NGC 1453 reported in Liepold et al. In addition, we verify the efficacy of our updated code on a mock galaxy data set. We identify a subset of slowly precessing quasi-planar orbits for which the typical integration times can be insufficient to fully capture the equilibrium orbital behavior in both axisymmetric and triaxial systems with central black holes. Further investigation is needed for a more reliable treatment of these orbits.more » « less
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Abstract We present a stellar dynamical mass measurement of a newly detected supermassive black hole (SMBH) at the center of the fast-rotating, massive elliptical galaxy NGC 2693 as part of the MASSIVE survey. We combine high signal-to-noise ratio integral field spectroscopy (IFS) from the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph with wide-field data from the Mitchell Spectrograph at McDonald Observatory to extract and model stellar kinematics of NGC 2693 from the central ∼150 pc out to ∼2.5 effective radii. Observations from Hubble Space Telescope WFC3 are used to determine the stellar light distribution. We perform fully triaxial Schwarzschild orbit modeling using the latest TriOS code and a Bayesian search in 6D galaxy model parameter space to determine NGC 2693's SMBH mass (
M BH), stellar mass-to-light ratio, dark matter content, and intrinsic shape. We find and a triaxial intrinsic shape with axis ratiosp =b /a = 0.902 ± 0.009 and , triaxiality parameterT = 0.39 ± 0.04. In comparison, the best-fit orbit model in the axisymmetric limit and (cylindrical) Jeans anisotropic model of NGC 2693 prefer and , respectively. Neither model can account for the non-axisymmetric stellar velocity features present in the IFS data.