Related papers: The Dirt on Dry Mergers

We study the distribution of orbital eccentricities of stars in thick disks generated by the heating of a pre-existing thin stellar disk through a minor merger (mass ratio 1:10), using N-body/SPH numerical simulations of interactions that…

We explore a model in which efficient star formation in galaxies is triggered by merging satellites. We show that the merger/interaction rates predicted by hierarchical galaxy formation models depend strongly on galaxy mass. If a merger of…

Context: Early-type galaxies (ETGs) are divided into slow and fast rotators (FRs and SRs) according to the degree of ordered rotation of their stellar populations. Cosmological hydrodynamical simulations indicate that galaxies form as FRs…

Motivated by the discovery of peculiar dwarf galaxies inside galaxy clusters such as blue candidates (BCs), dark galaxies and ultra-diffuse galaxies (UDGs), we present hydrodynamic simulations of galaxy mergers in cluster environments. We…

We have made a careful selection of a large complete volume-limited sample (1209) of projected close pairs (7<r_p<50 kpc) of luminous early-type galaxies (M_r<-21.5) in the local universe (z<0.12) from the SDSS data. 249 (21%) of them show…

We present Spitzer mid-infrared imaging of a sample of 35 tidally-distorted pre-merger interacting galaxy pairs selected from the Arp Atlas. We compare their global mid-infrared properties with those of normal galaxies from the SINGS…

One of the key predictions of the merger hypothesis for the origin of early-type (elliptical and lenticular) galaxies is that tidally-induced asymmetric structure should correlate with signatures of a relatively young stellar population.…

Far-infrared Spitzer observations of elliptical galaxies are inconsistent with simple steady state models of dust creation in red giant stars and destruction by grain sputtering in the hot interstellar gas at T ~ 10^7 K. The flux at 24…

Using a combination of numerical simulation and synthesized Hubble Space Telescope Wide Field Camera 2 (HST WFC2) images, we follow the detectability of morphological signatures of disk galaxy mergers at intermediate redshifts z=0.4 and…

In the current concordance cosmology small halos are expected to be completely dark and can significantly perturb low-mass galaxies during minor merger interactions. These interactions may well contribute to the diversity of the dwarf…

We study the tidal response of rotating solar mass stars, as well as more massive rotating stars, of different ages in the context of tidal captures leading to either giant exoplanets on close in orbits, or the formation of binary systems…

We analyze the morphological properties of a large sample of 1503 70 micron selected galaxies in the COSMOS field spanning the redshift range 0.01<z< 3.5 with a median redshift of 0.5 and an infrared luminosity range of 10^8<L_IR<10^14L_sun…

We have used the Hubble Space Telescope and Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 to image the putative tidal dwarf galaxy located at the tip of the Southern tidal tail of NGC 4038/9, the Antennae. We resolve individual stars, and identify two…

Tidal debris around galaxies can yield important clues on their evolution. We have identified tidal debris in 11 early type galaxies (T \leq 0) from a sample of 65 early types drawn from the Spitzer Survey of Stellar Structure in Galaxies…

Hierarchical galactic evolution models predict that mergers drive galaxy growth, producing low surface brightness (LSB) tidal features that trace galaxies' late assembly. These faint structures encode information about past mergers and are…

Tidal features provide signatures of recent galaxy mergers, offering insights into the role of mergers in galaxy evolution. The Vera C. Rubin Observatory's upcoming Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) will allow for an unprecedented…

Galactic centers are very dynamically active environments, often harbouring a nuclear star cluster and supermassive black hole at their cores. Binaries in these environments are subject to strong tidal fields that can efficiently torque its…

Previous studies have shown that WISE-selected hyperluminous, hot dust-obscured galaxies (Hot DOGs) are powered by highly dust-obscured, possibly Compton-thick AGNs. High obscuration provides us a good chance to study the host morphology of…

We investigate the cold and warm dust properties during galaxy interactions using a merging galaxy sample ordered into a chronological sequence from pre- to post-mergers. Our sample comprises a total of 29 merging systems selected to have…

We present the results of a series of empirical computations regarding the role of major mergers in forming the stellar masses of modern galaxies based on measurements of galaxy merger and star formation histories from z~0.5-3. We…