We model the surface brightness profiles of a sample of 119 Abell brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs), finding a generalized de Vaucouleurs R~(1) law, where n is a free parameter, to be appropriate. Departures from the R~(1/4) law are shown to be a real feature of galaxy profiles and not due to observational errors or coupling of n with the other model parameters. BCGs typically have values of n greater than 4. The shape parameter n is shown to correlate with effective half-light radius, such that the larger BCGs have larger values of n. This continues a trend noticed amongst ordinary elliptical galaxies and dwarf elliptical galaxies, such that the brighter galaxies have larger values of n.
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