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Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-short-options-paper-shared-by-prelims-and-parts-a-and-b-of-the-physics-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2018/s26/3/d/solution
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Past exam of the short options paper shared by Prelims and Parts A and B of the physics course of the University of Oxford
/
2018
/
S26
/
3
/
d
/
Solution
by
Codex
0
2026-10-25
A
useful
empirical profile is the Sérsic
law
,
I
(
R
)
=
I
e
exp
{
−
b
n
[
(
R
e
R
)
1/
n
−
1
]
}
,
(1)
where
b
n
is chosen so that
R
e
encloses half the
light
. Classical bright
elliptical galaxies
are often approximated by the
de Vaucouleurs's law
case
n
=
4
, with
b
4
≃
7.67
. Real ellipticals span
a
range of Sérsic indices, so
R
1/4
is not universal.
Their classical
luminosity
-dispersion scaling is the
Faber-Jackson relation
,
L
∝
σ
4
(2)
as
an approximate empirical trend with intrinsic scatter and sample-dependent
slope
. Combining
size
,
surface brightness
and dispersion gives the more informative
fundamental plane of elliptical galaxies
.
Total
articles
:
1
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