Three-dimensional modelling of edge-on disk galaxies

We present detailed three-dimensional modelling of the stellar luminosity d istribution for the disks of 31 relatively nearby (less than or equal to 11 0 Mpc) edge-on spiral galaxies. In contrast to most of the standard methods available in the literature we take into account the full three-dimensiona l information of the disk. We minimize the difference between the observed 2D-image and an image of our 3D-disk model integrated along the line of sig ht. Thereby we specify the inclination, the fitting function for the z-dist ribution of the disk, and the best values for the structural parameters suc h as scalelength, scaleheight, central surface brightness, and a disk cut-o ff radius. From a comparison of two independently developed methods we conc lude; that the discrepancies e.g. for the scaleheights and scalelengths are of the order of approximate to 10%. These differences are not due to the i ndividual method itself, but rather to the selected fitting region, which m asks the bulge component, the dust lane, or present foreground stars. Other serious limitations are small but appreciable intrinsic deviations of real disks compared to the simple input model. In this paper we describe the methods and present contour plots as well as radial profiles for all galaxies without previously published surface photo metry. Resulting parameters are given for the complete sample.