Sigma-drop in galaxies and the sigma-metallicity degeneracy

In some galaxies, the central velocity dispersion, sigma, is depressed with respect to the surroundings. This sigma-drop phenomenon may have different physical origins, bearing information about the internal dynamics of the host galaxy. In this article, we stress the importance also of observational artifacts due to the sigma-metallicity degeneracy: when a spectrum of a population is compared with a template of miss-matched metallicity, the velocity dispersion may be wrongly estimated. A sigma-drop may appear in place of a metallicity peak. The discussion is illustrated using VLT/FORS spectra of diffuse elliptical galaxies. Some of the sigma-drop galaxies reported in the literature may be analysis artifacts. (C) 2008 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim