The Sloan Lens ACS Survey. VII. Elliptical Galaxy Scaling Laws from Direct Observational Mass Measurements

We use a sample of 53 massive early-type strong gravitational lens galaxies with well-measured redshifts (ranging from z = 0.06 to 0.36) and stellar velocity dispersions (between 175 and 400 km s^-1) from the Sloan Lens ACS (SLACS) Survey to derive numerous empirical scaling relations. The ratio between central stellar velocity dispersion and isothermal lens-model velocity dispersion is nearly unity within errors. The SLACS lenses define a fundamental plane (FP) that is consistent with the FP of the general population of early-type galaxies. We measure the relationship between strong-lensing mass M_lens within one-half effective radius (R_e/2) and the dimensional mass variable M_dim ≡ G^-1σ_e2²(R_e/2) to be log (M_lens/10¹¹ M_⊙) = (1.03 +/- 0.04) log (M_dim/10¹¹ M_⊙) + (0.54 +/- 0.02) (where σ_e2 is the projected stellar velocity dispersion within R_e/2). The near-unity slope indicates that the mass-dynamical structure of massive elliptical galaxies is independent of mass and that the "tilt" of the SLACS FP is due entirely to variation in total (luminous plus dark) mass-to-light ratio with mass. Our results imply that dynamical masses serve as a good proxies for true masses in massive elliptical galaxies. Regarding the SLACS lenses as a homologous population, we find that the average enclosed two-dimensional (2D) mass profile goes as log [M(< R)/M_dim] = (1.10 +/- 0.09) log (R/R_e) + (0.85 +/- 0.03) , consistent with an isothermal (flat rotation curve) model when deprojected into three dimensions (3D). This measurement is inconsistent with the slope of the average projected aperture luminosity profile at a confidence level greater than 99.9%, implying a minimum dark matter fraction of f_DM = 0.38 +/- 0.07 within 1 effective radius. We also present an analysis of the angular mass structure of the lens galaxies, which further supports the need for dark matter inside one effective radius.

Based on observations made with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, obtained at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA), Inc., under NASA contract NAS 5-26555. These observations are associated with programs 10174, 10494, 10587, 10798, and 10886.