Simulations of Line Profile Structure in Shell Galaxies

TL;DR

This paper investigates the complex line-of-sight velocity distributions in shell galaxies resulting from nearly radial mergers, highlighting the detectability of spectroscopic signatures of shells through simulations.

Contribution

It extends previous models by analyzing the detailed structure of stellar line profiles in shell galaxies formed in radial mergers.

Findings

Line-of-sight velocity distributions are more complex than previously predicted.

Spectroscopic signatures of shells can be detected after convolution with spectral PSFs.

Simulations show the potential for observational identification of shell features.

Abstract

In the context of exploring mass distributions of dark matter haloes in giant ellipticals, we extend the analysis carried out Merrifield and Kuijken (1998) for stellar line profiles of shells created in nearly radial mergers of galaxies. We show that line-of-sight velocity distributions are more complex than previously predicted. We simulate shell formation and analyze the detectability of spectroscopic signatures of shells after convolution with spectral PSFs.