Related papers: Star clusters as building blocks for dSph galaxies…
An unresolved question in galaxy evolution is whether the star formation histories of low mass systems are preferentially dominated by starbursts or modes that are more quiescent and continuous. Here, we quantify the prevalence of global…
The origin and formation of globular clusters has remained a mystery. We present a formation scenario for ancient globular cluster-like objects that form in ultra-high resolution simulations (smallest cell size $<0.1\,\mathrm{pc}$, mass…
Young galaxies are clumpy, gas-rich, and highly turbulent. Star formation appears to occur by gravitational instabilities in galactic disks. The high dispersion makes the clumps massive and the disks thick. The star formation rate should be…
In spite of significant recent and ongoing research efforts, most of the early evolution and long-term fate of young massive star clusters remain clouded in uncertainties. Here, I discuss our understanding of the initial conditions of star…
Observations and theory both suggest that star clusters form sub-virial (cool) with highly sub-structured distributions. We perform a large ensemble of N-body simulations of moderate-sized (N=1000) cool, fractal clusters to investigate…
Most of the globular clusters in the main body of the Galactic halo were formed almost simultaneously. However, globular cluster formation in dwarf spheroidal galaxies appears to have extended over a significant fraction of a Hubble time.…
In this contribution initial results are presented from a program to study in detail the stellar populations of dwarf Spheroidal (dSph) galaxies in three nearby groups. The long-term aim of the program is to assess the influence of…
We investigate the star formation histories (SFHs) of 983 early-type dwarf galaxies classified into five morphological subtypes, dS0, dE, dEbc, dSph, and dEbl,across six environments ranging from the field to rich clusters such as Ursa…
Stars 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 and most massive…
In young star clusters, the density can be high enough and the velocity dispersion low enough for stars to collide and merge with a significant probability. This has been suggested as a possible way to build up the high-mass portion of the…
In the first part of this article, we review observations of the mass and luminosity functions of young and old star cluster systems. We also review some of the physical processes that may determine the characteristic mass of globular…
Galaxies exhibit a sequence of various morphological types, i.e., the Hubble sequence, and they are basically composed of spheroidal components (elliptical galaxies and bulges in spiral galaxies) and disks. It is known that spheroidal…
What galaxy lives in what halo? The answer to this simple question holds important information regarding galaxy formation and evolution. We describe a new statistical technique to link galaxies to their dark matter haloes, or light to mass,…
We describe the first results from two observational projects aimed at measuring the amount and spatial distribution of dark matter in distant early-type galaxies (E/S0s) and clusters of galaxies. At the galaxy scale, the Lenses Structure…
Through a suite of direct N-body simulations, we explore how the structural and kinematic evolution of a star cluster located at the center of a dwarf galaxy is affected by the shape of its host's dark matter density profile. The stronger…
Gravitational lensing studies suggest that the Universe may contain a population of dark galaxies; we investigate this intriguing possibility and propose a mechanism to explain their nature. In this mechanism a dark galaxy is formed with a…
Any realistic theory of galaxy formation must be set in the context of a model for the formation of structure in the universe. We describe a powerful approach -- semi-analytic modelling -- that combines a set of simple rules describing the…
We present a study of the variation of spatial structure of stellar populations within dwarf galaxies as a function of the population age. We use deep Hubble Space Telescope/Advanced Camera for Surveys imaging of nearby dwarf galaxies in…
Bressert et al. recently showed that the surface density distribution of low-mass, young stellar objects (YSOs) in the solar neighbourhood is approximately log-normal. The authors conclude that the star formation process is hierarchical and…
Populations of young star clusters show significant differences even among "normal" disk galaxies. In this contribution I discuss how properties of young cluster systems are related to those of their host galaxies, based on a recent study…