Related papers: The Evolution of Galaxy Clusters Across Cosmic Tim…
Clusters of galaxies are thought to contain about ten times as much dark matter as baryonic matter. The dark component therefore dominates the gravitational potential of the cluster, and the baryons confined by this potential radiate X-rays…
According to the current understanding of cosmic structure formation, the precursors of the most massive structures in the Universe began to form shortly after the Big Bang, in regions corresponding to the largest fluctuations in the cosmic…
I review the standard paradigm for understanding the formation and evolution of cosmic structure, based on the gravitational instability of dark matter, but many variations on this basic theme are viable. Despite the great progress that has…
Modelling of Extreme Scattering Events suggests that the Galaxy's dark matter is an undetected population of cold, AU-sized, planetary-mass gas clouds. None of the direct observational constraints on this picture -- thermal/non-thermal…
The quantity and quality of cosmic structure observations have greatly accelerated in recent years. Further leaps forward will be facilitated by imminent projects, which will enable us to map the evolution of dark and baryonic matter…
We simulate the assembly of a massive rich cluster and the formation of its constituent galaxies in a flat, low-density universe. Our most accurate model follows the collapse, the star-formation history and the orbital motion of all…
We present the analysis of baryonic and non-baryonic matter distribution in a sample of ten nearby clusters ($0.03<z<0.09$) with temperatures between 4.7 and 9.4 keV. These galaxy clusters have been studied in detail using X-ray data and…
We review recent advancements in cosmology with galaxy clusters. Galaxy clusters are the most massive objects in the Universe. Consequently the cluster number density as a function of cluster mass, or cluster abundance, is sensitive to…
We consider the possibility that the dark matter in the halos of galaxies may be in the form of clusters of \macho s within which are embedded cold, dense gas clouds. Microlensing experiments have found evidence that the Galactic halo…
Present-day clusters are massive halos containing mostly quiescent galaxies, while distant protoclusters are extended structures containing numerous star-forming galaxies. We investigate the implications of this fundamental change in a…
The dramatic size evolution of early-type galaxies from z ~ 2 to 0 poses a new challenge in the theory of galaxy formation, which may not be explained by the standard picture. It is shown here that the size evolution can be explained if the…
In this paper we address the issue of the origin of some observational properties of the galactic globular cluster system. After a preliminary study of some general properties of the main evolutionary processes, we investigate the evolution…
In addition to their low stellar densities, ultra-diffuse galaxies (UDGs) have a broad variety of dynamical mass-to-light ratios, ranging from dark matter (DM) dominated systems to objects nearly devoid of DM. To investigate the origin of…
Cosmological models in which dark matter consists of cold elementary particles predict that the dark halo population should extend to masses many orders of magnitude below those at which galaxies can form. Here we report a cosmological…
A better understanding of the formation of large-scale structure in the Universe is arguably the most pressing question in cosmology. The most compelling and promising theoretical paradigm, Inflation + Cold Dark Matter, holds that the…
Globular clusters (GCs) constitute a system which is evolving because of various interactions with the galactic environment. Evolution may be the explanation of many observed features of Globular Cluster Systems (GCSs); the different radial…
The K-band Hubble diagram of Brightest Cluster Galaxies (BCGs) is presented for a large, X-ray selected cluster sample extending out to z = 0.8. The controversy over the degree of BCG evolution is shown to be due to sample selection, since…
Observations have revealed that most stars are born in clusters. These systems, containing from tens to thousands of stars and typically significant mass in gas in the youngest systems, evolve due to a combination of stellar and star-gas…
The cosmic time around the z~1 redshift range appears crucial in the cluster and galaxy evolution, since it is probably the epoch of the first mature galaxy clusters. Our knowledge of the properties of the galaxy populations in these…
We test the hypothesis that globular clusters form in supergiant molecular clouds within high-redshift galaxies. Numerical simulations demonstrate that such large, dense, and cold gas clouds assemble naturally in current hierarchical models…