| Issue |
A&A
Volume 394, Number 1, October IV 2002
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Page(s) | L15 - L18 | |
| Section | Letters | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:20021294 | |
| Published online | 04 October 2002 | |
Letter to the Editor
A metallicity-flattening relation for dwarf elliptical galaxies
Astronomisches Institut, Universität Basel, Venusstrasse 7, 4102 Binningen, Switzerland
Corresponding author: F. D. Barazza, barazza@astro.unibas.ch
Received:
2
September
2002
Accepted:
5
September
2002
It is shown that bright cluster dwarf ellipticals follow a
relation between metallicity and apparent flattening. Rounder dwarfs tend to
be more metal-rich. The evidence is based on colour as well as spectroscopic
line-strength data from the literature. The large scatter of dEs
around the mean metallicity-luminosity relation, usually ascribed to
large observational errors, turns out to be an ellipticity effect.
In the magnitude range 
the metallicity of dEs depends more strongly on ellipticity than luminosity.
A possible explanation is that galaxies with masses around
suffered a partial blowout of metal-enriched gas along
their minor axis, rendering ellipticity a critical parameter for metallicity
(De Young & Heckman [CITE]).
Key words: galaxies: general / galaxies: fundamental parameters / galaxies: elliptical / galaxies: dwarf / galaxies: evolution
© ESO, 2002
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