Related papers: Disk Growth in Bulge-Dominated Galaxies: Molecular…
The molecular gas content of local early-type galaxies is constrained and discussed in relation to their evolution. First, as part of the Atlas3D survey, we present the first complete, large (260 objects), volume-limited single-dish survey…
Studies of the molecular interstellar medium that fuels star formation and supermassive black hole growth in galaxies at cosmological distances have undergone tremendous progress over the past few years. Based on the detection of molecular…
A new idea is proposed for the origin of bulges in spiral galaxies. Numerical simulations for the protogalactic collapse suggest strongly that galactic bulges have been assembled from massive clumps formed in the galactic disks in their…
We investigate the evolution of star-forming gas-rich disks, using a 3D chemodynamical model including a dark halo, stars, and a two-phase interstellar medium with feedback processes from the stars. We show that galaxy evolution proceeds…
Cosmological simulations predict that during the evolution of galaxies, the specific star formation rate continuously decreases. In a previous study we showed that generally this is not caused by the galaxies running out of cold gas but…
Over the past decade increasingly robust estimates of the dense molecular gas content in galaxy populations between redshift 0 and the peak of cosmic galaxy/star formation from redshift 1-3 have become available. This rapid progress has…
In chemodynamical evolution models it is usually assumed that the Milky Way galaxy forms from the inside-out implying that gas inflows onto the disk decrease with galactocentric distance. Similarly, to reproduce differences between chemical…
The distribution and kinematics of the molecular gas in elliptical galaxies give information on the origin and history of the gas and the rate of star formation activity in ellipticals. I describe some preliminary results of a survey which…
We describe the evolution of hot interstellar gas in a family of low luminosity elliptical galaxies all having $M_B = -20$ but with different degrees of flattening (E0, E2, and E6) caused by rotation. The interstellar gas is furnished by…
Spiral galaxies have most of their stellar mass in a large rotating disk, and only a modest fraction in a central spheroidal bulge. This poses a major challenge for cosmological models of galaxy formation. Galaxies form at the centre of…
Stars form from cold molecular interstellar gas. Since this is relatively rare in the local Universe, galaxies like the Milky Way form only a few new stars per year. Typical massive galaxies in the distant Universe formed stars an order of…
Galactic disk formation requires knowledge about the initial conditions under which disk galaxies form, the boundary conditions that affect their secular evolution and the micro-physical processes that drive the multi-phase interstellar…
We present new mm interferometric and optical integral-field unit (IFU) observations and construct a sample of 12 E and S0 galaxies with molecular gas which have both CO and optical maps. The galaxies contain 2 x 10^7 to 5 x 10^9 M\odot of…
Recent observations have revealed that starburst galaxies can drive molecular gas outflows through stellar radiation pressure. Molecular gas is the phase of the interstellar medium from which stars form, so these outflows curtail stellar…
In the standard model of structure formation, galaxies form in the centre of dark matter haloes that develop as a result of inhomogeneities in the primordial mass distribution of the Universe. Afterwards, galaxies grow by means of…
Stars and star clusters form by gravoturbulent fragmentation of interstellar gas clouds. The supersonic turbulence ubiquitously observed in Galactic molecular gas generates strong density fluctuations with gravity taking over in the densest…
I present an overview of new observations of atomic and molecular gas in early-type galaxies, focusing on the Atlas3D project. Our data on stellar kinematics, age and metallicity, and ionized gas kinematics allow us to place the cold gas…
The formation and evolution of galactic disks are complex phenomena, where gas and star dynamics are coupled through star formation and the related feedback. The physical processes are so numerous and intricate that numerical models focus,…
Star clusters are observed to form in a highly compact state and with low star-formation efficiencies, and only 10 per cent of all clusters appear to survive to middle- and old-dynamical age. If the residual gas is expelled on a dynamical…
We review the evolution of the cosmic average molecular gas density to large look-back times, using observations of rotational transitions of CO. Molecular gas is the fuel for star formation in galaxies. Deep searches for CO emission from…