Related papers: Mergers and Bulge Formation in Lambda-CDM: Which M…
Recent observational and theoretical studies have suggested that supermassive black holes (SMBHs) grow mostly through non-merger (`secular') processes. Since galaxy mergers lead to dynamical bulge growth, the only way to observationally…
We study the growth of dark matter halos in the concordance LCDM cosmology using several N-body simulations of large cosmological volumes. We build merger trees from the Millennium and Millennium-II simulations, covering a range 10^9-10^15…
We provide a new observational test for a key prediction of the \Lambda CDM cosmological model: the contributions of mergers with different halo-to-main-cluster mass ratios to cluster-sized halo growth. We perform this test by dynamically…
(Abridged) We develop a model for the cosmological role of mergers in the evolution of starbursts, quasars, and spheroidal galaxies. Combining halo mass functions (MFs) with empirical halo occupation models, we calculate where major…
The evolution of low-mass galaxies is shaped by both internal processes and environmental factors, yet the role of environment and mergers in regulating their growth and star formation rates remains poorly understood, especially in the…
We use the Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey to measure the local Universe mass dependent merger fraction and merger rate using galaxy pairs and the CAS structural method, which identifies highly asymmetric merger candidate galaxies.…
Dense star clusters are thought to contribute significantly to the merger rates of stellar-mass binary black holes (BBHs) detected by the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA collaboration. We combine $N$-body dynamic models of realistic dense star clusters…
We study the role of group infall in the assembly and dynamics of galaxy clusters in $\Lambda$CDM. We select $10$ clusters with virial mass $M_{\rm 200} \sim 10^{14} \, M_{\odot}$ from the cosmological hydrodynamical simulation Illustris…
Supermassive black hole (BH) masses (MBH) are strongly correlated with galaxy stellar bulge masses (Mbulge) and there are several ideas to explain the origin of this relationship. This study isolates the role of galaxy mergers from…
Using deep infrared observations conducted with the MOIRCS on the Subaru Telescope in GOODS-N combined with public surveys in GOODS-S, we investigate the dependence on stellar mass, M_*, and galaxy type of the close pair fraction (5 kpc < r…
In this paper we measure the merger fraction and rate, both minor and major, of massive early-type galaxies (M_star >= 10^11 M_Sun) in the COSMOS field, and study their role in mass and size evolution. We use the 30-band photometric…
Galaxy mergers are known to trigger bursts of central star formation, which should therefore lead to stellar mass growth in their inner regions. However, observational measurements of this `burst mass fraction' are scant. Here, we assemble…
We examine the intrinsic scatter in the correlation between black hole masses and their host bulge masses, and find that it cannot be accounted for by mergers alone. A simple merger scenario of small galaxies leads to a proportionality…
We use semi-analytical modelling techniques to investigate the progenitor morphologies of present day ellipticals. We find that, independent of the environment, the fraction of mergers of bulge dominated galaxies (early-types) increases…
Understanding the processes that drive the formation of black holes (BHs) is a key topic in observational cosmology. While the observed $M_{\mathrm{BH}}$--$M_{\mathrm{Bulge}}$ correlation in bulge-dominated galaxies is thought to be…
We present a study of galaxy mergers up to $z=10$ using the Planck Millennium cosmological dark matter simulation and the {\tt GALFORM} semi-analytical model of galaxy formation. Utilising the full ($800$ Mpc)$^3$ volume of the simulation,…
Aims. We aim to perform consistent comparisons between observations and simulations on the mass dependence of the galaxy major merger fraction at low redshift over an unprecedentedly wide range of stellar masses (10^9 to 10^12 solar…
In this review we discuss the evidence for galaxy interactions and mergers in the distant universe and the role of mergers in forming galaxies. Observations show that the fraction of massive (M> M_*) galaxies involved in major mergers is…
Compact binary mergers forming in star clusters may exhibit distinctive features that can be used to identify them among observed gravitational-wave (GW) sources. Such features likely depend on the host cluster structure and the physics of…
We construct merger trees from the largest database of dark matter haloes to date provided by the Millennium simulation to quantify the merger rates of haloes over a broad range of descendant halo mass (1e12 < M0 < 1e15 Msun), progenitor…