How non-linear scaling relations unify dwarf and giant elliptical galaxies

Authors: Alister W. Graham

Abstract: Dwarf elliptical galaxies are frequently excluded from bright galaxy samples because they do not follow the same linear relations in diagrams involving effective half light radii Re or mean effective surface brightnesses <μ>e. However, using two linear relations which unite dwarf and bright elliptical galaxies we explain how these lead to curved relations when one introduces either the half light radius or the associated surface brightness. In particular, the curved <μ>e-Re relation is derived here. This and other previously misunderstood curved relations, once heralded as evidence for a discontinuity between faint and bright elliptical galaxies at MB ~ -18 mag, actually support the unification of such galaxies as a single population whose structure (i.e. stellar concentration) varies continuously with stellar luminosity and mass.