: Galaxy morphology and photometry from bulge-disc decomposition of Early Release Observations
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: The background galaxies in Euclid Early Release Observation images of the Perseus cluster make up a remarkable sample for the combination of a 0.57 deg2 area, 25.3 and 23.2 AB mag depth, and angular resolutions in the optical and near-infrared bands of 0⋅′′1 and 0⋅′′3, respectively. As part of the effort towards characterising the history of the Hubble sequence, we performed a morphological analysis of 2445 and 12 786 galaxies with IE ≤ 21 and IE ≤ 23, respectively. We used single-Sérsic profiles and the sums of a Sérsic bulge and an exponential disc to model these galaxies with SourceXtractor++ and analysed their positional, structural, and flux parameters in order to assess their similarities and differences. The fitted galaxies to IE ≤ 21 span the various Hubble types with ubiquitous bulge and disc components and a bulge-to-total light ratio (B/T) that takes all values from 0 to 1. The effective radius of the single-Sérsic profile is an intermediate estimate of galaxy size (between the bulge and disc effective radii) depending on B/T. The axis ratio of the single-Sérsic profile is higher than the disc axis ratio, and this difference increases with B/T. The choice of model impacts the photometry with −0.08 to 0.01 mag median systematic IE offsets between single-Sérsic and bulge-disc total magnitudes and a 0.05–0.15 mag dispersion from low to high B/T. We measured a median 0.3 mag bulge-disc colour difference in rest-frame Mg − Mi that originates from the disc-dominated galaxies, whereas bulge-dominated galaxies have median colours similar to those of their components. Remarkably, we also measured redder inside disc colour gradients based on 5 to 10% systematic variations of disc effective radii between the optical and near-infrared bands. This analysis demonstrates the usefulness and limitations of single-Sérsic profile modelling and the power of bulge-disc decomposition for characterising the morphology of lenticulars and spirals in Euclid images. We make available the catalogues of best-fit parameters for the morphological and SED fits.
Authors: L. Quilley, V. de Lapparent, M. Bolzonella, M. Baes, I. Damjanov, B. Häußler, F. R. Marleau, A. Nersesian, T. Saifollahi, D. Scott, J. G. Sorce, C. Tortora, M. Urbano, N. Aghanim, B. Altieri, A. Amara, S. Andreon, N. Auricchio, C. Baccigalupi, M. Baldi, A. Balestra, S. Bardelli, A. Basset, P. Battaglia, A. Biviano, A. Bonchi, D. Bonino, E. Branchini, M. Brescia, J. Brinchmann, A. Caillat, S. Camera, V. Capobianco, C. Carbone, J. Carretero, S. Casas, M. Castellano, G. Castignani, S. Cavuoti, A. Cimatti, C. Colodro-Conde, G. Congedo, C. J. Conselice, L. Conversi, Y. Copin, F. Courbin, H. M. Courtois, M. Cropper, J.-C. Cuillandre, A. Da Silva, H. Degaudenzi, G. De Lucia, A. M. Di Giorgio, J. Dinis, F. Dubath, C. A. J. Duncan, X. Dupac, S. Dusini, A. Ealet, M. Farina, S. Farrens, F. Faustini, S. Ferriol, S. Fotopoulou, M. Frailis, E. Franceschi, M. Fumana, S. Galeotta, K. George, B. Gillis, C. Giocoli, P. Gómez-Alvarez, A. Grazian, F. Grupp, S. V. H. Haugan, J. Hoar, W. Holmes, F. Hormuth, A. Hornstrup, P. Hudelot, K. Jahnke, M. Jhabvala, E. Keihänen, S. Kermiche, A. Kiessling, M. Kilbinger, B. Kubik, K. Kuijken, M. Kümmel, M. Kunz, H. Kurki-Suonio, R. Laureijs, D. Le Mignant, S. Ligori, P. B. Lilje, V. Lindholm, I. Lloro, G. Mainetti, D. Maino, E. Maiorano, O. Mansutti, O. Marggraf, K. Markovic, M. Martinelli, N. Martinet, F. Marulli, R. Massey, E. Medinaceli, S. Mei, M. Melchior, Y. Mellier, M. Meneghetti, E. Merlin, G. Meylan, A. Mora, M. Moresco, L. Moscardini, R. Nakajima, C. Neissner, R. C. Nichol, S.-M. Niemi, C. Padilla, S. Paltani, F. Pasian, K. Pedersen, W. J. Percival, V. Pettorino, S. Pires, G. Polenta, M. Poncet, L. A. Popa, L. Pozzetti, F. Raison, R. Rebolo, A. Renzi, J. Rhodes, G. Riccio, E. Romelli, M. Roncarelli, E. Rossetti, R. Saglia, Z. Sakr, D. Sapone, B. Sartoris, M. Schirmer, P. Schneider, T. Schrabback, A. Secroun, E. Sefusatti, G. Seidel, S. Serrano, C. Sirignano, G. Sirri, L. Stanco, J. Steinwagner, P. Tallada-Crespí, A. N. Taylor, I. Tereno, R. Toledo-Moreo, F. Torradeflot, I. Tutusaus, L. Valenziano, T. Vassallo, G. Verdoes Kleijn, A. Veropalumbo, Y. Wang, J. Weller, G. Zamorani, E. Zucca, C. Burigana, V. Scottez
Language: English
Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7143425722
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