The Kormendy Relation for early-type galaxies. Dependence on the magnitude range

TL;DR

This study investigates how the magnitude range of early-type galaxies influences the coefficients of the Kormendy relation, revealing that distribution shape and brightness affect these parameters.

Contribution

It demonstrates that the Kormendy relation coefficients depend on the magnitude range and galaxy brightness, emphasizing the role of distribution shape in coefficient determination.

Findings

KR coefficients vary with magnitude range width

Distribution shape influences coefficient values

Brightness impacts the KR coefficients

Abstract

Previous studies indicate that faint and bright early-type galaxies (ETGs) present different coefficients and dispersion for their Kormendy relation (KR). A recently published paper states that the intrinsic dispersion of the KR depends on the magnitude range within which the galaxies are contained, therefore, we investigate here whether the magnitude range has also an influence over the values of the coefficients of the KR; $\alpha$ (zero point) and $\beta$ (slope). We perform numerical simulations and analysis of these coefficients for 4 samples of galaxies, which contain an approximate total of 9400 ETGs in a relatively ample magnitude range ($<\Delta M>$ $\sim 6 mag$). The analysis of the results makes us conclude that the values of the KR coefficients depend on the width of the magnitude range and the brightness of galaxies within the magnitude range. This dependence is due to the fact that the distribution of galaxies in the $\log (r_{e}) - <\mu>_{e}$ plane depends on luminosity and that this distribution is not symmetrical, that is, the geometric shape of the distribution of galaxies in the $\log (r_{e}) - <\mu>_{e}$ plane plays an important role in the determination of the values of the coefficients of the KR.