# A NICMOS Survey of Early-Type Galaxy Centers1: The Relation Between Core Properties, Gas and Dust Content and Environment

## 1 Introduction

Optical imaging surveys carried out with The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) find that almost all early-type galaxies harbor dust (van den Bosch et al. (1994)). Even though projection effects cause a bias against detecting dust features in most of these galaxies (e.g., van Dokkum & Franx (1995)) small 100 pc scale dust features are observed in a large fraction of galaxies with a variety of morphologies (spiral, warped or irregular). Peletier et al. (1990) find that asymmetries in the isophote shapes are particularly sensitive to the presence of dust. Because the dust is found near the galaxy nuclei, a simple dust screen model can underestimate the extinction or dust column depth. This implies that a significant fraction of light in the nuclei could be absorbed by dust. Despite this problem, visible WFPC and WFPC2 images from HST have been part of a major effort to classify the nuclear stellar profiles in these galaxies, resulting in the classification of light profiles into two categories, galaxies with shallow inner cusps and galaxies with ‘power law’ light profiles (Lauer et al. (1995)). We note that this classification is dependent on the angular resolution of the image, and so on the distance of the galaxy.

Near-IR images, which are less sensitive to extinction from dust, provide superior light profiles for dynamical studies of early-type galaxy cores. Although almost all early-type galaxies harbor dust, the samples used to classify light profiles are biased against the presence of dust precisely because of the sensitivity of the optical images to extinction. By using near-IR light profiles we can probe the central light profiles for a class of ellipticals with a higher dust content. Since the dust itself could be related to the formation process and subsequent evolution of the galaxy (related to merger induced accretion, or caused by dissipation in the gas, Dubinski (1994)) comparison of IR-observed light profiles between galaxies with varying amounts of dust may test models of core formation.

In this paper we present the results of a survey at 1.6 microns of early type galaxies. We present high angular resolution images observed with NICMOS Camera 2 on board HST. Surface brightness profiles and isophotal parameters are measured from the images and compared with the most comprehensive summary of the visible band based studies (Faber et al. (1997)). We investigate the possibility of correlations between core properties and cold gas content (traced by emission from dust in the far infrared), hot gas content (traced by X-ray luminosity) and cluster environment.

## 2 Observations

### 2.1 The Sample

Twenty-seven early-type galaxies, listed in Table 1, were observed in F160W ($`1.6\mu `$m) on camera 2 of NICMOS primarily as part of a snap shot program. Galaxies were chosen preferentially to have existing HST visible band images so that color maps could be made. This included a wide variety of early type galaxies including some galaxies with kinematically distinct cores (those studied in Carollo et al. (1997)). We then added galaxies from the RSA listed in Roberts et al. (1991) as having higher dust contents so as to insure that our sample was not grossly biased against dusty galaxies. Our sample was initially chosen to be representative of the distribution of ellipticals in terms of cold ISM content, however only a third of our 80 target galaxies were observed. In Fig. 1 we show a histogram of dust masses estimated from IRAS far infrared emission in our sample compared to the RSA (compiled by Roberts et al. (1991)) and sample of visible HST images compiled by van Dokkum & Franx (1995). We see that our sample is not as biased towards dust free galaxies as was the sample observed with WFPC and WFPC2 (compiled and discussed in Faber et al. (1997)).

### 2.2 The NICMOS images

The NICMOS observation sequences were MULTIACCUM with 13 samples of step32 with a sequence exposure time of 192s. The galaxies were observed in the F160W (1.6 micron) filter with this sequence at 4 different positions on the sky separated by $`0.56^{\prime \prime }`$ resulting in a total exposure time of 12.8 minutes per galaxy. Images were reduced with the nicred data reduction software (McLeod (1997)) with on-orbit flats and darks taken near the time the data were observed. Then each set of 4 images in a given filter were combined according to the position observed. The pixel size for the NICMOS camera 2 is $`0.076^{\prime \prime }`$. Flux calibration for the NICMOS images was performed using the conversion factors based on measurements of the standard stars P330-E and P172-D during the Servicing Mission Observatory Verification program (M. Rieke, private communication). 

The NICMOS images coupled with visible broad band images observed with WFPC2 on board HST when available are shown in Fig. 2. Galaxies lacking WFPC2 images are shown in Fig. 3. These images show the improved ability of the 1.6 micron images to measure stellar surface brightness profiles in the presence of moderate amounts of dust. For example in NGC 524, NGC 1400, NGC 1553, NGC 3056, NGC 4261, NGC 4278, NGC 4374, NGC 4589 and NGC 7626 we can more accurately measure profiles from the NICMOS images than possible with the WFPC2 images. However we do find galaxies such as NGC 7052 and NGC 4150 which show evidence for large extinctions from dust even at 1.6 microns. Though we can make better measurements than possible from visible wavelength images, even in the near-IR the presence of the dust in these galaxies hampers our ability to accurately measure the stellar surface brightness profiles.

### 2.3 Isophote fitting

To measure properties of the stellar cores, we fit ellipses to the isophotes using the ellipse routine in the stsdas package of iraf which uses an iterative method described by Jedrzejewski (1987). We also deconvolved our images with 20 iterations of the Lucy-Richardson method (from the stsdas package of iraf) to take into account the point spread function of the telescope. For deconvolution we used a model point spread function created by the program Tinytim (Krist & Hook (1997)) at the position of the nucleus of each galaxy on the camera. We then reran our ellipse fitting algorithm on the deconvolved images. The results of the ellipse fitting are shown in Fig. 4.

The “Nuker Law” (e.g., Faber et al. (1997)) was then fit to the surface brightness profile derived from the deconvolved images. This profile is described by

$$I(r)=I_b2^{(\beta \gamma )/\alpha }\left(\frac{r_b}{r}\right)^\gamma \left[1.0+\left(\frac{r}{r_b}\right)^\alpha \right]^{(\gamma \beta )/\alpha }$$

Here $`I_b`$ is the surface brightness at $`r_b`$ and the logarithmic slope inside the break radius $`r_b`$ is $`\gamma `$ and that outside is $`\beta `$. The parameters resulting from this fit are given in Table 2. Surface brightness profiles are classified as either ‘power law’ galaxies or ‘core’ galaxies. To identify a galaxy as having a core we require that the absolute value of inner logarithmic slope be $`\gamma <0.3`$ (e.g., Faber et al. (1997)). We note that this classification is dependent on the angular resolution of the image, and so on the distance of the galaxy. This implies that distant galaxies are more likely to be classified as power law galaxies.

The fitted values of $`r_b`$ are meaningful only for the core profiles where they represent a physical change in the nature of the stellar distribution (see for example the discussion in Faber et al. (1997)). We note that our range of radii fit ($`10^{\prime \prime }`$ from the nucleus) is comparable to that of the visible band studies. These studies restricted the range of their fits because outside a radius of $`10^{\prime \prime }`$ a deVaucouleurs law might be a better description of the profile. The Nuker Law was used to fit Planetary Camera images and is intended precisely to fit over a short range of radius. However we note that the parameters resulting from such a fit are necessarily highly correlated. The quality of our fits is identical to that of Byun et al. (1996).

#### 2.3.1 Comparison with previous visible band fits

We have galaxies 14 in common with previous HST based visible band studies (Faber et al. (1997), Carollo et al. (1997) and Ferrarese et al. (1994)). We compare the results of our fits (see Fig. 5) to those found from these previous studies. For the most part our break radii and exponents agree with those found from the previous studies. (NGC 2636 was excluded from this comparison since no break in surface brightness profile was listed in Faber et al. (1997)). Outliers (or those galaxies with fitting parameters that grossly disagree with those found previously) mostly correspond to power law galaxies where the break radii and inner exponent value are not particularly meaningful (NGC 1172 and NGC 1331). We note that we do find a small bias towards measuring smaller break radii from the well resolved core galaxies in the NICMOS images compared to previous visible band based studies. We consider these cases: NGC 1600, NGC 4374, NGC 4261 and NGC 5845. 

NGC 4374, NGC 4261 and NGC 5845 contain prominent dust features within their break radii. The visible band images suffer from absorption in their central regions. This would result in measurement of a smaller break radius or a shallower central surface brightness profile (however the discrepancy would depend on the dust distribution). We do not feel that the discrepancy between our measured break radius for NGC 1600 is significant given that the parameters of the Nuker fit are highly correlated and that the NGC 1600 visible image used to measure surface brightness profile properties was not a WFPC2 image and so may be suffering from point spread function artifacts. We find that dust features in the optical images are the main source of discrepancies of core classification and fitting parameters between our work and previous visible band studies.

Figure 6 shows correlations from bulk elliptical galaxy properties (dispersion and effective radius) and a comparison between break radius and surface brightness at this radius with galaxy luminosity. As found in previous works (e.g., Faber et al. (1997) and references therein) the galaxies display a dichotomy: those with measurable core break radii and low break surface brightnesses correspond mainly to higher visual luminosity galaxies, and those with steep central profiles and high central surface brightness correspond to lower visual luminosity galaxies. We do see a correlation between break radius and surface brightness at this radius (as proposed in Faber et al. (1997) and shown here in Fig. 7).

#### 2.3.2 Classification between core and power law galaxies

Our classifications (between core and power law) agree in all cases with those previous found (listed in Faber et al. (1997), Ferrarese et al. (1994) and Carollo et al. (1997)) but NGC 7262, NGC 1400 and Abell 2052.

In NGC 7626 our fit to the F160W surface brightness profile results in $`\gamma =0.46`$, $`r_b=0^{\prime \prime }.5`$. We therefore classify this galaxy as a power law galaxy. However Carollo et al. (1997) classified it as a core galaxy based on WFPC2 F814W and F555W images. These images display a small warped dusty disk at $`r<0^{\prime \prime }.45`$ and consequently these authors note that their fit (with $`\gamma =0`$, $`r_b=0^{\prime \prime }.32`$) is uncertain within $`r<0^{\prime \prime }.45`$. Since extinction from dust artificially lowers the central surface brightness it is likely that the NICMOS images are a better tracer of the stellar surface brightness. This galaxy is likely to have the steep surface brightness profile typical of a power law galaxy.

In NGC 1400, our fit to the F160W surface brightness profile results in $`\gamma =0.35`$, $`r_b=0^{\prime \prime }.85`$. This value of $`\gamma `$ is only slightly above $`0.3`$ that divides power law from core galaxies. Faber et al. (1997) classifies it as a core galaxy (with $`\gamma =0`$ and $`r_b=0^{\prime \prime }.33`$). However we note that the WFPC2 image does not clearly show a core. In this particular case, the classification is uncertain.

Abell 2052 is quite distant and luminous so we expect it to be a core galaxy. Though we do not resolve its break radius from our images, a shallow central profile was resolved in the WFPC2 images (Byun et al. (1996)) which have slightly higher angular resolution than the NICMOS images. We therefore list it as a core galaxy.

### 2.4 Ellipticity and boxiness reduction near the break radius

In Fig. 8 we show trends observed in ellipticity and boxiness near the break radius for the core galaxies. Core galaxies tend to exhibit a reduction in both boxiness (when boxiness is exhibited) and ellipticity between about two times the break radius and the break radius. No galaxy is observed to be boxy within in its break radius. Many of the cores are well resolved so this is not caused by smoothing due to the point spread function. There are some galaxies which stand out from this pattern, however. NGC 7052 clearly contains a gas disk which is probably affecting measurement of the B4 component describing boxiness or diskiness. NGC 1600 gains ellipticity and has disky (positive B4) isophotes within its core. We suspect that this galaxy might contain a weak stellar disk.

Two processes are predicted to reduce ellipticity and boxiness: 1) the stochasticity caused by the central black hole (proposed and explored by Merritt & Valuri (1996)) and 2) scattering from a binary black hole.

We consider whether the morphology change in the stellar isophotes near the break radius is consistent with the black-hole scattering model for the formation of the cuspy or shallow core. Boxiness is a symptom of an uneven distribution function of stellar orbits in phase space (Binney & Petro (1985)). In other words this function is peaked around orbits with a narrow range of shapes. A scattering process would be likely to smooth the distribution function in phase space and so reduce boxiness. After scattering, the angular momentum of a particle will have changed, so we expect the distribution of scattered stars to be closer to spherical. A population of scattered stars should therefore reduce both boxiness and ellipticity. A binary black hole will scatter stars at a particular mean escape velocity (e.g. Quinlan (1996)) which depends on the binary semi-major axis and the binary mass ratio. This particular velocity should then manifest as a particular length scale over which a change in the isophote shapes is observed. This would naturally result in a particular range of radius over which we see a reduction in ellipticity and boxiness. This would correspond to the region of order a few times the break radius over which we observe the change in boxiness and ellipticity in these two galaxies.

We now discuss an alternate possibility whereby the isophote change is instead caused by the the stochasticity induced by the black hole (Merritt & Valuri (1996); Merritt & Quinlan (1998)). This mechanism reduces triaxiality (which might be consistent with the observed boxiness) but would not likely account for such an association with the break radius or a large change in ellipticity as well as boxiness. We would expect this mechanism to result in a smooth isophotal shape variation with radius since the diffusion timescale is primarily dependent on the local dynamical time (Ryden (1998)). Since we observe a shape change over a small region (a few times the break radius), we find that scattering from a black hole binary gives a more natural explanation for the isophotal shape changes observed near the break radius. However stochasticity induced by the central black hole would still be a natural explanation for smooth shape changes observed over larger scales (Ryden (1998); Bender & Mehlert (1998)).

### 2.5 Core properties vs dust content

The ability to observe these galaxies at 1.6 microns allows us to study galaxies which were excluded from visible band studies precisely because of their dust content (e.g., NGC 4150 was excluded from Faber et al. (1997) precisely for this reason). This allows us to investigate the possibility that core properties are related to dust or cold gas content. If dust is long lived in elliptical galaxies then a high dust content may indicate a previous gas rich merger which might have resulted in a binary black hole with more extreme binary black hole mass ratio and a smaller core or break radius. Alternatively if black hole coalescence requires Gyrs to take place (Begelman, Blandford & Rees (1980)) then we might expect recently formed elliptical galaxies to have growing cores, again suggesting that dusty galaxies should have smaller core or break radii. However, if an elliptical galaxy gains sufficient gas then star formation can occur within its core (e.g., NGC 7052), a process which might increase the central density and reduce the core size. However as we show in Fig. 9 we see no correlation between dust content (as measured from IRAS far-infrared emission) and core size. This suggests that the dust or cold gas we now see in elliptical galaxy is acquired subsequent to core formation and does not strongly affect the surface brightness profile. This is consistent with the lack of correlation between dust quantity and galaxy properties such as luminosity (Goodfrooij & de Jong (1996)), and the lack of alignment of dust features with respect to galaxy axes which suggests that dust must be acquired in elliptical galaxies on relatively short timescales (van Dokkum & Franx (1995)).

Since we see no strong color gradients in our color maps we find no evidence for a diffuse dust component that is distributed in a different way than the light density. If such a component exists it must be extremely diffuse and similarly distributed as the star light (Goodfrooij & de Jong (1996)).

### 2.6 Core properties vs X-ray luminosity

We also investigate the possibility that X-ray luminosity may be related to elliptical core properties (see Fig. 10). X-ray and optical luminosities of early-type galaxies are correlated with $`L_XL_B^{2.0\pm 0.2}`$ (Eskridge, Fabbiano & Kim (1995)). However the scatter about this relation is enormous with $`L_X/L_B`$ varying by factors of 500. There are two approaches towards accounting for this large scatter: 1) evolution models for production of hot gas via supernovae (e.g., Ciotti et al. (1991)) and 2) consideration of environmental affects such as ram pressure stripping (e.g., white). In either scenario the formation and evolution of the core might be related, so we might expect a correlation between core properties and X-ray luminosity.

However, we fail to see any strong correlation between core properties and X-ray luminosity or $`L_X/L_B`$ (see Fig. 7). In our sample we find a core galaxy in a poor group, NGC 524, which moderate X-ray flux as well as X-ray bright cluster ellipticals. The lack of correlation suggests that the process of core formation is subsequently unaffected by whatever processes determine the X-ray luminosities of galaxies.

### 2.7 Core properties vs environment

Our sample combined with that of Faber et al. (1997) contain galaxies which span a range of environments from poor groups to moderately sized clusters such as the Virgo and Fornax Clusters. We find poor groups with brightest members with cores (NGC 524) and poor groups with brightest members without cores (NGC 1553, NGC 2907, NGC 5198, NGC 821, NGC 1172, NGC 1400, NGC 7626). (We have identified cluster membership based on Garcia (1993), Faber et al. (1989) and references therein.) Almost all the brighter galaxies ($`M_V<20.5`$) in Virgo and Fornax contain cores (see the histograms presented in Fig. 11). However galaxies of this luminosity or greater without cores appear to be common in poorer environments (e.g., NGC 821, NGC 1172, NGC 1400, NGC 1553, NGC 1700, NGC 3115, NGC 4594, NGC 4697, NGC 5198). As we see in Table 3 and Fig. 7 these are not primarily distant galaxies which would have cores that are unresolved (except possibly in the case of NGC 5198). Since the scatter from the fundamental plane for these galaxies (Faber et al. (1997)) is much smaller than a magnitude, distance errors are unlikely to account for the difference in the histograms between the Virgo and Fornax cluster galaxies and the whole sample (Figs. 11a and 11b). This suggests that poor galaxy groups can harbor more luminous power law galaxies than clusters. This is an interesting possibility that should be investigated further with bigger samples.

## 3 Summary and Discussion

In this paper we have presented a NICMOS imaging study of early-type galaxies. In moderately dusty galaxies these images allow us to measure stellar surface brightness profiles more accurately than possible with visible band images which are more strongly affected by extinction from dust. Discrepancies between core classification and measurement of core properties between our NICMOS images and previous visible band based HST studies are primarily due to dust features in the nuclear regions of the galaxies.

We observe a trend in boxiness and ellipticity in the core galaxies. Both boxiness and ellipticity are reduced near and within the break radius. No galaxy is observed to be boxy within its break radius. This is consistent with a core formation mechanism that involves scattering of stars (such as scattering from a binary black hole).

We failed to find correlations between core break radius and dust content or X-ray luminosity. This suggests that the current cold or hot gas content of an elliptical galaxy is unrelated to the process of core formation. The gas content is then more likely to be determined by processes, such as minor mergers and cooling flows, that would occur after the formation of the galaxy or core.

By combining our sample with that of Faber et al. (1997) we find that galaxies from the Virgo and Fornax clusters (together) show a dichotomy of core types which is strongly dependent on luminosity. However, the dependence of core type on luminosity may be weaker in the complete sample including galaxies outside of the Virgo and Fornax Clusters. In particular higher luminosity power law galaxies may be more common in poorer environments. Since both core classification and cluster identification tequniques are strongly dependent on the galaxy distance, care must be taken to ensure that the more luminous power law galaxies are not the most distant. A larger sample of galaxies (such as is now available in the HST archive) could more thoroughly probe the relation between core properties and environment.

Support for this work was provided by NASA through grant number GO-07886.01-96A from the Space Telescope Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Incorporated, under NASA contract NAS5-26555. We also acknowledge support from NASA project NAG-53359. We acknowledge helpful discussions and correspondence with A. Alonso-Herrero, M. Elvis, M. Rieke, G. Rieke, S. Stolovy, N. Caldwell and J. Bechtold. We thank M. S. Roberts for providing catalogues to us in electronic form.