Stellar mass is an important parameter of galaxies. We estimate the dynamical mass of an elliptical galaxy by its velocity dispersion and effective radius using the Hernquist model in the framework of MOdified Newtonian Dynamics (MOND). MOND is an alternative theory to the dark matter paradigm. In MOND the dynamical mass is the same as the baryonic mass or luminous mass, and in elliptical galaxies most of the baryons reside in stars. We select elliptical galaxies between redshift 0.05 and 0.5 from the main galaxy sample and the luminous red galaxy sample in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. We nd that the stellar mass-to-light ratio at different redshift epochs can be fitted by a gamma distribution, and its mean is smaller at smaller redshifts.

MOdified Newtonian Dynamics (MOND) is an alternative to the dark matter paradigm. MOND asserts that when the magnitude of acceleration is smaller than the acceleration parameter a0, the response of the system to gravity is stronger (larger acceleration) than the one given by Newtonian dynamics. The current value of a0 is obtained mostly by observations of spiral galaxies (rotation curves and the Tully-Fisher relation). We attempt to estimate a0 from the dynamics of elliptical galaxies. We seek elliptical galaxies that act as the lens of gravitational lensing systems and have velocity dispersion data available. We analysed 65 Einstein rings from the Sloan Len ACS survey (SLACS). The mass estimates from gravitation lensing and velocity dispersion agree well with each other, and are consistent with the estimates from population synthesis with a Salpeter IMF. The value of a0 obtained from this analysis agrees with the current value.

Planetary nebula in elliptical galaxies pose a problem in dark matter theory. Using data from the Planetary Nebula Spectrograph (PN. S), Romanowsky et al. (2003) reported that less dark matter than expected was found within 5 to 6 effective radii of three elliptical galaxies. We attempt to explain similar observations of elliptical galaxies with MOdied Newtonian Dynamics (MOND). We collect 16 elliptical galaxies with planetary nebulae from the public web data of PN. S. We investigate the dynamical behavior by analyzing the line-of-sight velocity dispersion in the framework of MOND.

We present a photometric study of the globular clusters (GCs) in the Virgo giant elliptical galaxy M86 based on Washington CT1 images. The colors of the GCs in M86 show a bimodal distribution with a blue peak at (C − T1) = 1.30 and a red peak at (C − T1) = 1.72. The spatial distribution of the red GCs is elongated similar to that of the stellar halo, while that of the blue GCs is roughly circular. The radial number density profile of the blue GCs is more extended than that of the red GCs. The radial number density profile of the red GCs is consistent with the surface brightness profile of the M86 stellar halo. The GC system has a negative radial color gradient, which is mainly due to the number ratio of the blue GCs to the red GCs increasing as galactocentric radius increases. The bright blue GCs in the outer region of M86 show a blue tilt: the brighter they are, the redder their mean colors get. These results are discussed in comparison with other Virgo giant elliptical galaxies.