Related papers: The Challenge of Modelling Galactic Disks
Evolution of galaxies is one of the most actual topics in astrophysics. Among the most important factors determining the evolution are two galactic components which are difficult or even impossible to detect optically: the gaseous disks and…
Star formation depends on the available gaseous "fuel" as well as galactic environment, with higher specific star formation rates where gas is predominantly molecular and where stellar (and dark matter) densities are higher. The partition…
In this review I give a summary of the state-of-the-art for what concerns the chemo-dynamical numerical modelling of galaxies in general and of dwarf galaxies in particular. In particular, I focus my attention on (i) initial conditions;…
Protoplanetary disks are the birthplaces of planetary systems. The evolution of the star-disk system and the disk chemical composition determines the initial conditions for planet formation. Therefore a comprehensive understanding of the…
There is a strong connection between the formation of a disk galaxy and the properties of the interstellar medium (ISM). Theoretical work has typically either focused on the cosmological buildup of a galaxy with a relatively crude model for…
The importance of angular momentum in regulating the sizes of galactic disks and by this their star formation history is highlighted. Tidal torques and accretion of satellites in principle provide enough angular momentum to form disks with…
The formation of protostars and their disks has been understood as the result of the gravitational collapse phase of an accumulation of dense gas that determines the mass reservoir of the star-disk system. Against this background, the…
We review progress in understanding the formation of galactic disks in the standard cosmogonic scenario involving gravitational clustering of baryons and dark matter and dissipative collapse of the baryons. This scenario accounts remarkably…
We discuss the main ingredients necessary to build models of chemical evolution of spiral galaxies and in particular the Milky Way galaxy. These ingredients include: the star formation rate, the initial mass function, the stellar yields and…
We live in an age where an enormous amount of astrometric, photometric, asteroseismic, and spectroscopic data of Milky Way stars are being acquired, many orders of magnitude larger than about a decade ago. Thanks to the Gaia astrometric…
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…
I attempt to summarize our knowledge of planet formation in evolving protoplanetary discs. I first review the physics of disc evolution and dispersal. For most of the disc lifetime evolution is driven by accretion and photoevaporation, and…
Despite having entered the era of "precision cosmology," the formation of galaxies within the favored CDM cosmological paradigm remains problematic. By relating our N-body/smooth particle hydro-dynamical simulation to an extensive range of…
Galaxy simulations have come a long way from the early days of simple N-body calculations, which considered only gravitational interactions, to the complex, multi-physics models used today. Beginning with initial conditions representative…
We examine the chemical and dynamical structure in the solar neighbourhood of a model Galaxy that is the endpoint of a simulation of the chemical evolution of the Milky Way in the presence of radial mixing of stars and gas. Although the…
Protoplanetary disks are quasi-steady structures whose evolution and dispersal determine the environment for planet formation. I review the theory of protoplanetary disk evolution and its connection to observations. Substantial progress has…
Newly formed stars are often observed to possess circumstellar disks, from which mass continues to be accreted onto the star and fed into outflowing jets, and which eventually may evolve into dusty debris disks and planetary systems. Recent…
Galaxy disks are characterised by star formation histories that vary systematically along the Hubble sequence. We study global star formation, incorporating supernova feedback, gas accretion and enriched outflows in disks modelled by a…
Recent observations have suggested that circumstellar disks may commonly form around young stellar objects. Although the formation of circumstellar disks can be a natural result of the conservation of angular momentum in the parent cloud,…
Disk galaxies evolve over time through processes that may rearrange both the radial mass profile and the metallicity distribution within the disk. This review of such slow changes is largely, though not entirely, restricted to…