Photometric decomposition of galaxies

While the standard bulk/disk photometric decomposition has highlighted interesting characteristics, the scatter of results thus obtained is excessive. Prior to a galaxy's decomposition, model selection depends on the purpose envisioned; illustrative of the extremes between which such choices will be made are (1) a simple model relying on limited a priori information, in order to obtain statistics on some integrated parameters, and (2) trial- and-error, whose quality-of-fit criteria will entail that the decomposition be physically meaningful. The generalization of two-dimensional data is expected to contribute to future progress. 82 refs