Structural properties of edge-on galaxies

Mosenkov A.V., Sotnikova N.Ya., Reshetnikov V.P.

We perform two-dimensional bulge/disk decompositions in the optical, near-
infrared and infrared bandpasses on a representative sample of edge-on galaxies 
mainly selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Galaxies of all 
morphological types, i.e. bulge-dominated and bulgeless galaxies (including 
superthin galaxies), are analyzed. The new software pipeline DECA for 
performing automated decompositions and estimating structural parameters of 
galaxies is applied. This algorithm provides new capabilities to study large 
samples of edge-on galaxies allowing to find truncation radii and warp 
parameters of edge-on disks as well as to investigate the shape of the inner 
parts of galaxies (e.g. boxy/peanut-shaped bulges). The dust lane masking is 
applied to decrease the influence of the dust attenuation on the extracted 
bulge and disk parameters.  Correlations of the resulting structural parameters 
of disks and bulges are investigated. Classical bulges and pseudobulges are 
well distinct in the correlations which can give a clue to the processes  
causing the formation of these different types of bulges. This work summarizes 
the main structural properties of edge-on galaxies that can be derived via 
photometric decomposition analysis.