The core fundamental plane of B2 radio galaxies

TL;DR

This study constructs the Core Fundamental Plane for low redshift radio galaxies and finds it indistinguishable from that of non-radio ellipticals, indicating minimal impact of active phases on galaxy structure.

Contribution

It introduces the Core Fundamental Plane for radio galaxies and compares it with non-radio ellipticals, revealing their structural similarities.

Findings

CFP of radio galaxies is similar to non-radio ellipticals.

CFP characteristics are consistent with the global Fundamental Plane.

Active phases have minimal effects on galaxy core structure.

Abstract

The photometric, structural and kinematical properties of the centers of elliptical galaxies, harbor important information of the formation history of the galaxies. In the case of non active elliptical galaxies these properties are linked in a way that surface brightness, break radius and velocity dispersion of the core lie on a fundamental plane similar to that found for their global properties. We construct the Core Fundamental Plane (CFP) for a sizeable sample of low redshift radio galaxies and compare it with that of non radio ellipticals. To pursue this aim we combine data obtained from high resolution HST images with medium resolution optical spectroscopy to derive the photometric and kinematic properties of ~40 low redshift radio galaxies. We find that the CFPs of radio galaxies is indistinguishable from that defined by non radio elliptical galaxies of similar luminosity. The characteristics of the CFP of radio galaxies are also consistent (same slope) with those of the Fundamental Plane (FP) derived from the global properties of radio (and non radio) elliptical galaxies. The similarity of CFP and FP for radio and non radio ellipticals suggests that the active phase of these galaxies has minimal effects for the structure of the galaxies.