The cores of elliptical galaxies

Core radii and central surface brightnesses are measured from seeing-deconvolved high-resolution CCD surface photometry profiles for 42 nearby elliptical galaxies presented in an earlier paper. Analysis of the apparent core radii and seeing profiles indicates that 14 galaxies have resolvable cores between 1arcsec.5 and 5arcsec.0. None of the resolved cores can be described by isothermal King model cores. Analysis of the core parameters finds that the central luminosity density, ρc, acts as a second parameter, along with luminosity L, in determining core structure. Central mass-to-light ratios are calculated from the core parameters. A brief discussion is presented on implications of the results for current theories on the formation of elliptical galaxies.