Probing the origin of thick disks using ultra-deep images

摘要

The origin of thick disks is still a matter of debate. To explore such structures in unprecedented detail, we have developed a technique to reach a surface brightness limit of 28.5-29 mag/arcsec~2 with the combined g, r, i bands images from the IAC Stripe82 Legacy Project (Fliri & Trujillo, 2016). We present the characterisation of the thick disk in the edge-on galaxy UGC 01040. We carefully analyse the background subtraction and masking process. The effects of the PSF are considered through galaxy modelling. We present the study of radial and vertical surface brightness profiles, making a comparison between our data, the convolved and deconvolved models and its galactic components. We find that PSF effects are important, but can be accounted for. Our technique will allow us to model thick disks in external galaxies and elucidate their formation and evolutionary history.