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A chi-squared minimization scheme is applied to the luminosity profiles of disk galaxies. A rigorous procedure is outlined for profile fitting using a combination of a bulge r exp 1/4 law and an exponential disk function. To test the accuracy of the algorithm, a double-blind experiment was undertaken using artificial data combined with noise levels that are representative of the performance of CCD detectors on small telescopes. It is found that the procedure is quite good at recovering structural parameters at these noise levels. Several procedural points are discussed concerning the reliability of profile fitting. The most important parameter, the bulge-to-disk luminosity ratio, is shown to be accurate over a wide range of values, with few serious systematic errors detected. However, the existence of a threshold chi-squared value above which the concept of a bulge-to-disk is relatively meaningless is pointed out. In practice, application of the algorithm to real disk galaxies produces chi-squared values that are above the critical value, which implies that extra luminosity components are required to describe the luminosity profile completely.
Schombert et al. (Thu,) studied this question.