Dr. Kormendy, one of the worlds leading experts in high resolu- tion spectroscopy and photometry of early type galaxies, is here funded to make a systematic investigation of the cores of early- type galaxies. This work is made possible by the excellent seeing at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, which exhibits star images a factor of two smaller than elsewhere. For the first time, cores will be resolved in many galaxies. A variety of problems of core structure are to be investigated. Surface photometry, stellar rotation, and velocity dispersion measure- ments will be obtained for galaxies over a wide range of luminos- ity. This program will provide basic galaxy scaling laws: corre- lations between characteristic size, central density, velocity dispersion and luminosity. These will provide basic constraints for theories of galaxy formation; for example, they may show that lower-luminosity ellipticals formed with more dissipation than high-luminosity ellipticals. "Second parameter" effects in these correlations, i.e., the origin of the scatter, will be studied. Dynamical modeling using Richstone and Tremaine's maximum entropy code will be used to study anisotropies in the velocity distribu- tion and to measure mass-to-light ratios as a function of galaxy luminosity. Surprisingly, dust is detected in over half of the galaxies already surveyed. This will be illustrated in an atlas of photographs. Dust distributions will provide constraints on the intrinsic shapes of ellipticals, fueling scenarios for cen- tral black holes, and X-ray cooling flows. Other nuclear phenom- ena which may be investigated include extra nuclei superimposed on cores, dynamical evolution and collapse in the smallest cores, and the formation of nuclear black holes. A search for supermas- sive black holes will be made by looking for large gradients in central rotation and velocity dispersion curves. Evidence for central mass concentration has already been found in at least five galaxies.
