Stellar dynamical modeling-accuracy of 3D density estimation for edge-on axisymmetric galaxies

摘要

From Rybicki’s analysis using the Fourier slice theorem,mathematically it is possible to reproduce uniquely an edge-on axisymmetric galaxy’s 3D light distribution from its 2D surface brightness.Utilizing galaxies from a cosmological simulation,we examine the ability of Syer and Tremaine’s madeto-measure method and Schwarzschild’s method for stellar dynamical modeling to do so for edge-on oblate axisymmetric galaxies.Overall,we find that the methods do not accurately recover the 3D distributions,with the made-to-measure method producing more accurate estimates than Schwarzschild’s method.Our results have implications broader than just luminosity density,and affect other luminosity-weighted distributions within galaxies,for example,age and metallicity.