THE LUMINOSITY DISTRIBUTIONS OF EDGE-ON SPIRAL AND LENTICULAR GALAXIES .2. MODELING THE NON-THIN DISK LIGHT IN A SAMPLE OF 10 GALAXIES

We present the results of application of a least-squares modelling algorithm to the two-dimensional luminosity distributions of a new sample of ten edge-on spiral and lenticular galaxies. Significant differences are found in the statistically-defined best-fit model surface brightness distributions between galaxies of similar morphological type. The measured disc scaleheight is independent of radial distance to within ± 3 per cent of the mean value, indicating that galactic discs have constant thickness to high precision. The luminosity profiles of the non-thm disc components indicate a high degree of flattening (axial ratios <0.7) in all cases. We find no one-to-one correspondence between the presence of a significant central 'bulge' and evidence for a multi-component structure within the non-thin disc light, and there is no correlation between the shape of the luminosity profiles of the non-thm disc light and the presence of companions. For those galaxies for which multi-colour photometry was available, no evidence was found of colour gradients perpendicular to the disc plane of any system. © Royal Astronomical Society • Provided by the NASA Astrophysics Data System.