# Analytical Properties of the R1/m Law

## 1. Introduction

After its introduction as a generalization of the $`R^{1/4}`$ law (de Vaucouleurs 1948), the $`R^{1/m}`$ law (Sersic 1968) has been widely used in observational and theoretical investigations (see, e.g., Ciotti & Bertin 1999, and references therein, hereafter CB). According to such law, the surface brightness profile is given by

$$I(R)=I_0e^{b\eta ^{1/m}},m>0,$$
(1)   
where $`\eta =R/R_\mathrm{e}`$, and $`b`$ is a dimensionless constant such that $`R_\mathrm{e}`$ is the effective (half–luminosity) radius. The projected luminosity inside $`R`$ is given by

$$L(R)=2\pi _0^RI(R^{})R^{}𝑑R^{}=I_0R_\mathrm{e}^2\frac{2\pi m}{b^{2m}}\gamma (2m,b\eta ^{1/m}),$$
(2)   
where $`\gamma (\alpha ,x)=_0^xe^tt^{\alpha 1}𝑑t`$ is the (left) incomplete gamma function. The total luminosity is then given by

$$L=I_0R_\mathrm{e}^2\frac{2\pi m}{b^{2m}}\mathrm{\Gamma }(2m),$$
(3)   
where $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(\alpha )=\gamma (\alpha ,\mathrm{})`$ is the complete gamma function. It follows that $`b(m)`$ is the solution of the following equation:

$$\gamma (2m,b)=\frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }(2m)}{2}.$$
(4)   
## 2. Asymptotic expansion

Unfortunately, eq. (4) cannot be solved in explicit, closed form, and so it is usually solved numerically. This is inconvenient for a number of observational and theoretical applications. At least three interpolation formulae for $`b(m)`$ have been given in the literature, namely $`b1.9992m0.3271`$ by Capaccioli (1989), $`b2m0.324`$ by Ciotti (1991), and $`b2m1/3+0.009876/m`$ by Prugniel & Simien (1997). These expressions provide an accurate fit in the range $`0.5m10`$; curiously, their leading term is linear in $`m`$, with a slope very close to 2. In CB it is proved that this behavior results from a general property of the gamma function. In particular, it turns out that the first terms of the asymptotic expansion of $`b(m)`$ as implicitly given by eq. (4) are

$$b(m)2m\frac{1}{3}+\frac{4}{405m}+\frac{46}{25515m^2}+\mathrm{O}(m^3).$$
(5)   
Equation (5) now clearly explains the value of the interpolation formulae found earlier. Note that $`4/405=0.009876\mathrm{}`$. Of course, the asymptotic analysis provided in CB would allow us to give explicitly any higher order term if so desired. In CB it is shown that this expansion, even when truncated to the first four terms as in eq. (5), performs much better than the interpolation formulae cited above, even for $`m`$ values as low as unity, with relative errors smaller than $`10^6`$.

The use of this simple formula is thus recommended both in theoretical and observational investigations based on the Sersic law. As a simple application, in CB the leading term of the asymptotic expansion of the total luminosity, of the central potential, and of the surface brightness profile associated with the R<sup>1/m</sup> law are obtained in explicit, analytical form. In particular, the connection of eq. (1) with the simple power law $`R^2`$, often used in the past to fit the photometric profiles of elliptical galaxies, is brought out explicitly.

### Acknowledgments.

This work was supported by MURST, contract CoFin98.

## References

Capaccioli, M. 1989, in The world of galaxies, H.G. Corwin & L. Bottinelli, Springer Verlag: New York, 208

Ciotti, L., 1991, A&A, 249, 99

Ciotti, L., & Bertin, G. 1999, submitted (CB)

de Vaucouleurs, G. 1948, Ann.d’Ap., 11, 247

Prugniel, P., & Simien, F. 1997, A&A, 321, 111

Sersic, J.L. 1968, Atlas de galaxias australes. Observatorio Astronomico, Cordoba