Structural properties of dwarf ellipticals and the connection with (ordinary) elliptical galaxies

Abstract

This article reviews the popular reasons for the belief that dwarf elliptical galaxies and (ordinary) elliptical galaxies are distinct and separate species. They include: light-profile shape (or similarly image concentration); the magnitude-central surface brightness diagram; the magnitude-effective surface brightness diagram (or similarly the magnitude-effective radius diagram); and the Fundamental Plane. It is shown how a continuous trend between luminosity and a) light-profile shape, and b) central surface brightness (until the onest of core formation at MB ∼ -20.5 mag), results in a unification of the dwarf elliptical and (ordinary) elliptical galaxies. Neither the above four reasons, nor the luminosity function (at least in the Virgo cluster) provide evidence for a division at MB = -18 mag between the dwarf elliptical and (ordinary) elliptical galaxies. Instead, they appear to be continuous extensions of each other.