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Alister W. Graham

Publications and source records attributed to Alister W. Graham.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources

Supermassive black holes and their host spheroids II. The red and blue sequence in the $M_{\rm BH} - M_{\rm *,sph}$ diagram

In our first paper, we performed a detailed (i.e. bulge, disks, bars, spiral arms, rings, halo, nucleus, etc.) decomposition of 66 galaxies, with directly measured black hole masses, $M_{BH}$, that had been imaged at $3.6~μm$ with Spitzer. Our sample is the largest to date and, for the first time, the decompositions were checked for consistency with the galaxy kinematics. We present correlations between $M_{ BH}$ and the host spheroid (and galaxy) luminosity, $L_{sph}$ (and $L_{gal}$), and also stellar mass, $M_{*,sph}$. While most previous studies have used galaxy samples that were overwhelmingly dominated by high-mass, early-type galaxies, our sample includes 17 spiral galaxies, half of which have $M_{BH} < 10^7~M_\odot$, and allows us to better investigate the poorly studied low-mass end of the $M_{BH} - M_{*,sph}$ correlation. The bulges of early-type galaxies follow $M_{BH} \propto M_{*,sph}^{1.04 \pm 0.10}$ and define a tight red sequence with intrinsic scatter $ε= 0.43 \pm 0.06~dex$ and a median $M_{BH}/M_{*,sph}$ ratio of $0.68 \pm 0.04\%$, i.e.~a $\pm 2σ$ range of 0.1-5%. At the low-mass end, the bulges of late-type galaxies define a much steeper blue sequence, with $M_{BH} \propto M_{*,sph}^{2-3}$, indicating that gas-rich processes feed the black hole more efficiently than the host bulge as they coevolve. We additionally report that: i) our Sersic galaxy sample follows a less steep sequence than previously reported; ii) bulges with Sersic index $n<2$, argued by some to be pseudo-bulges, are not offset to lower $M_{BH}$ from the correlation defined by the current bulge sample with $n>2$; and iii) $L_{sph}$ and $L_{gal}$ correlate equally well with $M_{BH}$, in terms of intrinsic scatter, only for early-type galaxies - once reasonable numbers of spiral galaxies are included, the correlation with $L_{ sph}$ is better than that with $L_{gal}$.

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Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA): Panchromatic Data Release (far-UV --- far-IR) and the low-z energy budget

We present the GAMA Panchromatic Data Release (PDR) constituting over 230deg$^2$ of imaging with photometry in 21 bands extending from the far-UV to the far-IR. These data complement our spectroscopic campaign of over 300k galaxies, and are compiled from observations with a variety of facilities including: GALEX, SDSS, VISTA, WISE, and Herschel, with the GAMA regions currently being surveyed by VST and scheduled for observations by ASKAP. These data are processed to a common astrometric solution, from which photometry is derived for 221,373 galaxies with r<19.8 mag. Online tools are provided to access and download data cutouts, or the full mosaics of the GAMA regions in each band. We focus, in particular, on the reduction and analysis of the VISTA VIKING data, and compare to earlier datasets (i.e., 2MASS and UKIDSS) before combining the data and examining its integrity. Having derived the 21-band photometric catalogue we proceed to fit the data using the energy balance code MAGPHYS. These measurements are then used to obtain the first fully empirical measurement of the 0.1-500$μ$m energy output of the Universe. Exploring the Cosmic Spectral Energy Distribution (CSED) across three time-intervals (0.3-1.1Gyr, 1.1-1.8~Gyr and 1.8---2.4~Gyr), we find that the Universe is currently generating $(1.5 \pm 0.3) \times 10^{35}$ h$_{70}$ W Mpc$^{-3}$, down from $(2.5 \pm 0.2) \times 10^{35}$ h$_{70}$ W Mpc$^{-3}$ 2.3~Gyr ago. More importantly, we identify significant and smooth evolution in the integrated photon escape fraction at all wavelengths, with the UV escape fraction increasing from 27(18)% at z=0.18 in NUV(FUV) to 34(23)% at z=0.06. The GAMA PDR will allow for detailed studies of the energy production and outputs of individual systems, sub-populations, and representative galaxy samples at $z<0.5$. The GAMA PDR can be found at: http://gama-psi.icrar.org/

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Dark matter halo properties of GAMA galaxy groups from 100 square degrees of KiDS weak lensing data

The Kilo-Degree Survey (KiDS) is an optical wide-field survey designed to map the matter distribution in the Universe using weak gravitational lensing. In this paper, we use these data to measure the density profiles and masses of a sample of $\sim \mathrm{1400}$ spectroscopically identified galaxy groups and clusters from the Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey. We detect a highly significant signal (signal-to-noise-ratio $\sim$ 120), allowing us to study the properties of dark matter haloes over one and a half order of magnitude in mass, from $M \sim 10^{13}-10^{14.5} h^{-1}\mathrm{M_{\odot}}$. We interpret the results for various subsamples of groups using a halo model framework which accounts for the mis-centring of the Brightest Cluster Galaxy (used as the tracer of the group centre) with respect to the centre of the group's dark matter halo. We find that the density profiles of the haloes are well described by an NFW profile with concentrations that agree with predictions from numerical simulations. In addition, we constrain scaling relations between the mass and a number of observable group properties. We find that the mass scales with the total r-band luminosity as a power-law with slope $1.16 \pm 0.13$ (1-sigma) and with the group velocity dispersion as a power-law with slope $1.89 \pm 0.27$ (1-sigma). Finally, we demonstrate the potential of weak lensing studies of groups to discriminate between models of baryonic feedback at group scales by comparing our results with the predictions from the Cosmo-OverWhelmingly Large Simulations (Cosmo-OWLS) project, ruling out models without AGN feedback.

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Too big to be real? No depleted core in Holm 15A

Partially depleted cores, as measured by core-Sersic model "break radii", are typically tens to a few hundred parsecs in size. Here we investigate the unusually large (cusp radius of 4.57 kpc) depleted core recently reported for Holm 15A, the brightest cluster galaxy of Abell 85. We model the 1D light profile, and also the 2D image (using GALFIT-CORSAIR, a tool for fitting the core-Sersic model in 2D). We find good agreement between the 1D and 2D analyses, with minor discrepancies attributable to intrinsic ellipticity gradients. We show that a simple Sersic profile (with a low index n and no depleted core) plus the known outer exponential "halo" provide a good description of the stellar distribution. We caution that while almost every galaxy light profile will have a radius where the negative logarithmic slope of the intensity profile equals 0.5, this alone does not imply the presence of a partially depleted core within this radius.

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H-ATLAS/GAMA: Quantifying the Morphological Evolution of the Galaxy Population Using Cosmic Calorimetry

Using results from the Herschel Astrophysical Terrahertz Large-Area Survey and the Galaxy and Mass Assembly project, we show that, for galaxy masses above approximately 1.0e8 solar masses, 51% of the stellar mass-density in the local Universe is in early-type galaxies (ETGs: Sersic n > 2.5) while 89% of the rate of production of stellar mass-density is occurring in late-type galaxies (LTGs: Sersic n < 2.5). From this zero-redshift benchmark, we have used a calorimetric technique to quantify the importance of the morphological transformation of galaxies over the history of the Universe. The extragalactic background radiation contains all the energy generated by nuclear fusion in stars since the Big Bang. By resolving this background radiation into individual galaxies using the deepest far-infrared survey with the Herschel Space Observatory and a deep near-infrared/optical survey with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), and using measurements of the Sersic index of these galaxies derived from the HST images, we estimate that approximately 83% of the stellar mass-density formed over the history of the Universe occurred in LTGs. The difference between this and the fraction of the stellar mass-density that is in LTGs today implies there must have been a major transformation of LTGs into ETGs after the formation of most of the stars.

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Hiding in plain sight: An abundance of compact massive spheroids in the local Universe

It has been widely remarked that compact, massive, elliptical-like galaxies are abundant at high redshifts but exceedingly rare in the Universe today, implying significant evolution such that their sizes at z ~ 2+/-0.6 have increased by factors of 3 to 6 to become today's massive elliptical galaxies. These claims have been based on studies which measured the half-light radii of galaxies as though they are all single component systems. Here we identify 21 spheroidal stellar systems within 90 Mpc that have half-light, major-axis radii R_e < ~2 kpc, stellar masses 0.7x10^{11} < M_*/M_Sun < 1.4x10^{11}, and Sersic indices typically around a value of n=2 to 3. This abundance of compact, massive spheroids in our own backyard - with a number density of 6.9x10^{-6} / Mpc^3 (or 3.5x10^{-5} / Mpc^3 per unit dex in stellar mass) - and with the same physical properties as the high-redshift galaxies, had been over-looked because they are encased in stellar disks which usually result in `galaxy' sizes notably larger than 2 kpc. Moreover, this number density is a lower limit because it has not come from a volume-limited sample. The actual density may be closer to 10^{-4} / Mpc^3, although further work is required to confirm this. We therefore conclude that not all massive `spheroids' have undergone dramatic structural and size evolution since z ~ 2+/-0.6. Given that the bulges of local early-type disk galaxies are known to consist of predominantly old stars which existed at z ~ 2, it seems likely that some of the observed high redshift spheroids did not increase in size by building (3D) triaxial envelopes as commonly advocated, and that the growth of (2D) disks has also been important over the past 9-11 billion years.

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Black hole and nuclear cluster scaling relations: M_bh ~ M_nc^{2.7+/-0.7}

There is a growing array of supermassive black hole and nuclear star cluster scaling relations with their host spheroid, including a bent (black hole mass)-(host spheroid mass) M_bh-M_sph relation and different (massive compact object mass)-(host spheroid velocity dispersion) M_mco-sigma relations for black holes and nuclear star clusters. By combining the observed M_bh ~ sigma^(5.5) relation with the observed M_nc ~ sigma^(1.6--2.7) relation, we derive the expression M_bh ~ (M_nc)^(2--3.4), which should hold until the nuclear star clusters are eventually destroyed in the larger core-Sersic spheroids. This new mass scaling relation helps better quantify the rapid evolutionary growth of massive black holes in dense star clusters, and the relation is consistently recovered when coupling the observed M_nc ~ (M_sph)^(0.6--1.0) relation with the recently observed quadratic relation M_bh ~ (M_sph)^2 for Sersic spheroids.

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The (black hole)-bulge mass scaling relation at low masses

Several recent papers have reported on the occurrence of active galactic nuclei (AGN) containing under-massive black holes relative to a linear scaling relation between black hole mass (M_bh) and host spheroid stellar mass (M_sph,*). Dramatic revisions to the M_bh-M_sph,* and M_bh-L_sph relations, based on samples containing predominantly inactive galaxies, have however recently identified a new steeper relation at M_bh < (2-10)x10^8 M_Sun, roughly corresponding to M_sph,* < (0.3-1)x10^{11} M_Sun. We show that this steeper, quadratic-like M_bh-M_sph,* relation defined by the Sersic galaxies, i.e. galaxies without partially depleted cores, roughly tracks the apparent offset of the AGN having 10^5 < M_bh/M_Sun < 0.5x10^8. That is, these AGN are not randomly offset with low black hole masses, but also follow a steeper (non-linear) relation. As noted by Busch et al., confirmation or rejection of a possible AGN offset from the steeper M_bh-M_sph,* relation defined by the Sersic galaxies will benefit from improved stellar mass-to-light ratios for the spheroids hosting these AGN. Several implications for formation theories are noted. Furthermore, reasons for possible under- and over-massive black holes, the potential existence of intermediate mass black holes (<10^5 M_Sun), and the new steep (black hole)--(nuclear star cluster) relation, M_bh ~ (M_nc)^{2.7+/-0.7}, are also discussed.

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Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA): mass-size relations of z$<$0.1 galaxies subdivided by Sérsic index, colour and morphology

We use data from the Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey in the redshift range 0.01$<$z$<$0.1 (8399 galaxies in $g$ to $K_s$ bands) to derive the stellar mass $-$ half-light radius relations for various divisions of 'early' and 'late'-type samples. We find the choice of division between early and late (i.e., colour, shape, morphology) is not particularly critical, however, the adopted mass limits and sample selections (i.e., the careful rejection of outliers and use of robust fitting methods) are important. In particular we note that for samples extending to low stellar mass limits ($<10^{10}\mathcal{M_{\odot}}$) the Sérsic index bimodality, evident for high mass systems, becomes less distinct and no-longer acts as a reliable separator of early- and late-type systems. The final set of stellar mass $-$ half-light radius relations are reported for a variety of galaxy population subsets in 10 bands ($ugrizZYJHK_s$) and are intended to provide a comprehensive low-z benchmark for the many ongoing high-z studies. Exploring the variation of the stellar mass $-$ half-light radius relations with wavelength we confirm earlier findings that galaxies appear more compact at longer wavelengths albeit at a smaller level than previously noted: at $10^{10}\mathcal{M_{\odot}}$ both spiral systems and ellipticals show a decrease in size of 13% from $g$ to $K_s$ (which is near linear in log wavelength). Finally we note that the sizes used in this work are derived from 2D Sérsic light profile fitting (using GALFIT3), i.e., elliptical semi-major half light radii, improving on earlier low-z benchmarks based on circular apertures.

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Super-massive black hole mass scaling relations

Using black hole masses which span 10^5 to 10^(10) solar masses, the distribution of galaxies in the (host spheroid stellar mass)-(black hole mass) diagram is shown to be strongly bent. While the core-Sersic galaxies follow a near-linear relation, having a mean M_(bh)/M_(sph) mass ratio of ~0.5%, the Sersic galaxies follow a near-quadratic relation: M_bh~M_sph^(2.22+\-0.58). This is not due to offset pseudobulges, but is instead an expected result arising from the long-known bend in the M_(sph)-sigma relation and the log-linear M_(bh)-sigma relation.

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Core shapes and orientations of core-Sersic galaxies

The inner and outer shapes and orientations of core-Sersic galaxies may hold important clues to their formation and evolution. We have therefore measured the central and outer ellipticities and position angles for a sample of 24 core-Sersic galaxies using archival HST images and data. By selecting galaxies with core-Sersic break radii R_b---a measure of the size of their partially depleted core---that are > 0".2, we find that the ellipticities and position angles are quite robust against HST seeing. For the bulk of the galaxies, there is a good agreement between the ellipticities and position angles at the break radii and the average outer ellipticities and position angles determined over R_e/2 < R < R_e, where R_e is the spheroids' effective half light radius. However there are some interesting differences. We find a median "inner" ellipticity at R_b of e_med = 0.13 +- 0.01, rounder than the median ellipticity of the "outer" regions e_med = 0.20 +- 0.01, which is thought to reflect the influence of the central supermassive black hole at small radii. In addition, for the first time we find a trend, albeit weak (2 sigma significance), such that galaxies with larger (stellar deficit)-to- (supermassive black hole) mass ratios---thought to be a measure of the number of major dry merger events---tend to have rounder inner and outer isophotes, suggesting a connection between the galaxy shapes and their merger histories. We show that this finding is not simply reflecting the well known result that more luminous galaxies are rounder, but it is no doubt related.

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Overmassive black holes in the $M_{\rm BH} - σ$ diagram do not belong to over (dry) merged galaxies

Semi-analytical models in a $Λ$CDM cosmology have predicted the presence of outlying, "overmassive" black holes at the high-mass end of the (black hole mass -- galaxy velocity dispersion) $M_{\rm BH} - σ$ diagram (which we update here with a sample of 89 galaxies). They are a consequence of having experienced more dry mergers -- thought not to increase a galaxy's velocity dispersion -- than the "main-sequence" population. Wet mergers and gas-rich processes, on the other hand, preserve the main correlation. Due to the scouring action of binary supermassive black holes, the extent of these dry mergers (since the last significant wet merger) can be traced by the ratio between the central stellar mass deficit and the black hole mass ($M_{\rm def,*} / M_{\rm BH}$). However, in a sample of 23 galaxies with partially depleted cores, including central cluster galaxies, we show that the "overmassive" black holes are actually hosted by galaxies that appear to have undergone the lowest degree of such merging. In addition, the rotational kinematics of 37 galaxies in the $M_{\rm BH} - σ$ diagram reveals that fast and slow rotators are not significantly offset from each other, also contrary to what is expected if these two populations were the product of wet and dry mergers respectively. The observations are thus not in accordance with model predictions and further investigation is required.

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Depleted cores, multi-component fits, and structural parameter relations for luminous early-type galaxies

New surface brightness profiles from 26 early-type galaxies with partially depleted cores have been extracted from the full radial extent of HST images, giving us a total sample of 31 such core-Sersic galaxies. We have carefully quantified the radial stellar distributions of the elliptical galaxies using the core-Sersic model whereas for the lenticular galaxies a core-Sersic bulge plus an exponential disc model gives the best representation. We additionally caution about the excessive use of multiple Sersic functions for decomposing galaxies and compare with past fits in the literature. The structural parameters obtained from our fitted models are in general, in good agreement with our initial study using radially limited (R < 10") profiles, and are used here to update several galaxy scaling relations. We find near-linear relations between the break radius R_b and the spheroid luminosity L such that R_b ~ L^(1.13 +/- 0.13), and with the supermassive black hole mass M_BH such that R_b ~ M_BH^(0.83+/- 0.21). This is internally consistent with the notion that major, dry mergers add the stellar and black hole mass in equal proportion, i.e., M_BH ~ L. In addition, we observe a linear relation R_b ~ R_e^(0.98 +/- 0.15) for the core-Sersic elliptical galaxies, where R_e is the galaxies' effective half light radii, which is collectively consistent with the approximately-linear, bright-end of the curved L-R_e relation. Finally, we measure accurate stellar mass deficits M_def that are in general 0.5-4 M_BH, and we identify two galaxies (NGC 1399, NGC 5061) that, due to their high M_def/M_BH ratio, may have experienced oscillatory core-passage by a kicked black hole. The galaxy scaling relations and stellar mass deficits favor core-Sersic galaxy formation through a few `dry' major merger events involving supermassive black holes such that M_def ~ M_BH^(3.70 +/- 0.76), for M_BH > 2 X 10^8 M_sun.

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The HST/ACS Coma Cluster Survey. X. Nuclear star clusters in low-mass early-type galaxies: scaling relations

We present scaling relations between structural properties of nuclear star clusters and their host galaxies for a sample of early-type dwarf galaxies observed as part of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) Coma Cluster Survey. We have analysed the light profiles of 200 early-type dwarf galaxies in the magnitude range $16.0 < m_{F814W} < 22.6 $ mag, corresponding to $-19.0 < M_{F814W} < -12.4 $ mag. Nuclear star clusters are detected in 80% of the galaxies, thus doubling the sample of HST-observed early-type dwarf galaxies with nuclear star clusters. \changed{We confirm that the} nuclear star cluster detection fraction decreases strongly toward faint magnitudes. The luminosities of nuclear star clusters do not scale linearly with host galaxy luminosity. A linear fit yields L$_{nuc} \sim $L$_{gal}^{0.57\pm0.05}$. The nuclear star cluster-host galaxy luminosity scaling relation for low-mass early-type dwarf galaxies is consistent with formation by globular cluster accretion. We find that at similar luminosities, galaxies with higher Sérsic indices have slightly more luminous nuclear star clusters. Rounder galaxies have on average more luminous clusters. Some of the nuclear star clusters are resolved, despite the distance of Coma. We argue that the relation between nuclear star cluster mass and size is consistent with both formation by globular cluster accretion and in situ formation. Our data are consistent with GC inspiraling being the dominant mechanism at low masses, although the observed trend with Sérsic index suggests that in situ star formation is an important second order effect.

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Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA): Refining the Local Galaxy Merger Rate using Morphological Information

We use the Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey to measure the local Universe mass dependent merger fraction and merger rate using galaxy pairs and the CAS structural method, which identifies highly asymmetric merger candidate galaxies. Our goals are to determine which types of mergers produce highly asymmetrical galaxies, and to provide a new measurement of the local galaxy major merger rate. We examine galaxy pairs at stellar mass limits down to $M_{*} = 10^{8}M_{\odot}$ with mass ratios of $<$100:1 and line of sight velocity differences of $ΔV<500$ km s$^{-1}$. We find a significant increase in mean asymmetries for projected separations less than the sum of the individual galaxy's Petrosian 90 radii. For systems in major merger pairs with mass ratios of $<$4:1 both galaxies in the pair show a strong increase in asymmetry, while in minor merger systems (with mass ratios of $>$4:1) the lower mass companion becomes highly asymmetric, while the larger galaxy is much less affected. The fraction of highly asymmetric paired galaxies which have a major merger companion is highest for the most massive galaxies and drops progressively with decreasing mass. We calculate that the mass dependent major merger fraction is fairly constant at $\sim1.3-2\%$ between $10^{9.5}<M_{*}<10^{11.5} M_{\odot}$, and increases to $\sim4\%$ at lower masses. When the observability time scales are taken into consideration, the major merger rate is found to approximately triple over the mass range we consider. The total co-moving volume major merger rate over the range $10^{8.0}<M_{*}<10^{11.5} M_{\odot}$ is $(1.2 \pm 0.5) \times 10^{-3}$ $h^{3}_{70}$ Mpc$^{-3}$ Gyr$^{-1}$.

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The Supermassive Black Hole Mass - Spheroid Stellar Mass Relation for Sérsic and Core-Sérsic Galaxies

We have examined the relationship between supermassive black hole mass (M$_{BH}$) and the stellar mass of the host spheroid (M$_{sph,*}$) for a sample of 75 nearby galaxies. To derive the spheroid stellar masses we used improved 2MASS K$_s$-band photometry from the ARCHANGEL photometry pipeline. Dividing our sample into core-Sérsic and Sérsic galaxies, we find that they are described by very different M$_{BH}$-M$_{sph,*}$ relations. For core-Sérsic galaxies - which are typically massive and luminous, with M$_{BH} \gtrsim 2x10^8 M_\odot$ - we find M$_{BH} \propto M_{sph,*}^{(0.97 \pm 0.14)}$, consistent with other literature relations. However, for the Sérsic galaxies - with typically lower masses, M$_{sph,*} \lesssim 3x10^10 M_\odot$ - we find M$_BH \propto M_{sph,*}^{(2.22 \pm 0.58)}$, a dramatically steeper slope that differs by more than 2 standard deviations. This relation confirms that, for Sérsic galaxies, M$_{BH}$ is not a constant fraction of M$_{sph,*}$. Sérsic galaxies can grow via the accretion of gas which fuels both star formation and the central black hole, as well as through merging. Their black hole grows significantly more rapidly than their host spheroid, prior to growth by dry merging events that produce core-Sérsic galaxies, where the black hole and spheroid grow in lock step. We have additionally compared our Sérsic M$_{BH}$-M$_{sph,*}$ relation with the corresponding relation for nuclear star clusters, confirming that the two classes of central massive object follow significantly different scaling relations.

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Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA): Stellar mass functions by Hubble type

We present an estimate of the galaxy stellar mass function and its division by morphological type in the local (0.025 < z < 0.06) Universe. Adopting robust morphological classifications as previously presented (Kelvin et al.) for a sample of 3,727 galaxies taken from the Galaxy And Mass Assembly survey, we define a local volume and stellar mass limited sub-sample of 2,711 galaxies to a lower stellar mass limit of M = 10^9.0 M_sun. We confirm that the galaxy stellar mass function is well described by a double Schechter function given by M* = 10^10.64 M_sun, α1 = -0.43, ϕ*1 = 4.18 dex^-1 Mpc^-3, α2 = -1.50 and ϕ*2 = 0.74 dex^-1 Mpc^-3. The constituent morphological-type stellar mass functions are well sampled above our lower stellar mass limit, excepting the faint little blue spheroid population of galaxies. We find approximately 71+3-4% of the stellar mass in the local Universe is found within spheroid dominated galaxies; ellipticals and S0-Sas. The remaining 29+4-3% falls predominantly within late type disk dominated systems, Sab-Scds and Sd-Irrs. Adopting reasonable bulge-to-total ratios implies that approximately half the stellar mass today resides in spheroidal structures, and half in disk structures. Within this local sample, we find approximate stellar mass proportions for E : S0-Sa : Sab-Scd : Sd-Irr of 34 : 37 : 24 : 5.

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Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA): the wavelength-dependent sizes and profiles of galaxies revealed by MegaMorph

We investigate the relationship between colour and structure within galaxies using a large, volume-limited sample of bright, low-redshift galaxies with optical to near-infrared imaging from the GAMA survey. We fit single-component, wavelength-dependent, elliptical Sersic models to all passbands simultaneously, using software developed by the MegaMorph project. Dividing our sample by Sersic index and colour, the recovered wavelength variations in effective radius (R_e) and Sersic index (n) reveal the internal structure, and hence formation history, of different types of galaxies. All these trends depend on n; some have an additional dependence on galaxy colour. Late-type galaxies (n_r < 2.5) show a dramatic increase in Sersic index with wavelength. This might be a result of their two-component (bulge-disk) nature, though stellar population gradients within each component and dust attenuation are likely to play a role. All galaxies show a substantial decrease in R_e with wavelength. This is strongest for early-types (n_r > 2.5), even though they maintain constant n with wavelength, revealing that ellipticals are a superimposition of different stellar populations associated with multiple collapse and merging events. Processes leading to structures with larger R_e must be associated with lower metallicity or younger stellar populations. This appears to rule out the formation of young cores through dissipative gas accretion as an important mechanism in the recent lives of luminous elliptical galaxies.

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