Related papers: Modelling the formation of today's massive ellipti…
Using a high resolution hydrodynamical cosmological simulation of the formation of a massive spheroidal galaxy we show that elliptical galaxies can be very compact and massive at high redshift in agreement with recent observations.…
Advances in extragalactic astronomy have prompted the development of increasingly realistic models which aim to describe the formation and evolution of galaxies. We review the philosophy behind one such technique, called semi-analytic…
Massive early-type galaxies have undergone dramatic structural evolution over the last 10 Gyr. A companion paper shows that nearby elliptical galaxies with M*>1.3x10^{11} M_sun generically contain three photometric subcomponents: a compact…
We use semi-analytical modelling of galaxy formation to predict the redshift-size-evolution of elliptical galaxies. Using a simple model in which relative sizes of elliptical galaxies of a given mass correlate with the fraction of stars…
The effects of late gas accretion episodes and subsequent merger-induced starbursts on the photo-chemical evolution of elliptical galaxies are studied and compared to the picture of galaxy formation occurring at high redshift with an unique…
Galaxies grow primarily via accretion-driven star formation in discs and merger-driven growth of bulges. These processes are implicit in semi-analytical models of galaxy formation, with bulge growth in particular relating directly to the…
Star formation in elliptical galaxies (Es) was and is mostly dominated by mergers and accretions with many suggestive examples seen among local galaxies. Present day star formation in Es is easily measurable in two thirds of Es and appears…
The processes governing both the formation and evolution of elliptical galaxies are discussed by means of a new multi-zone photo-chemical evolution model for elliptical galaxies, taking into account detailed nucleosynthetic yields, feedback…
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…
Hierarchical models of galaxy formation now provide a much closer match to observations than they did a few years ago. The progress has been achieved by adjusting the description of baryonic processes such as star formation and…
There are many proposed mechanisms driving the morphological transformation of disk galaxies to elliptical galaxies. In this paper, we determine if the observed transformation in low mass groups can be explained by the merger histories of…
The current understanding of galaxy formation is that it proceeds in a 'bottom up' way, with the formation of small clumps of gas and stars that merge hierarchically until giant galaxies are built up. The baryonic gas loses the thermal…
[abridged] We study the dependence of the galaxy size evolution on morphology, stellar mass and large scale environment for a sample of 298 group and 384 field quiescent early-type galaxies from the COSMOS survey, selected from z~1 to the…
This talk investigates the formation of early-type galaxies from a deliberately observational view point. I begin by reviewing the conclusions that can be reached by comparing the detailed properties of galaxies in present-day clusters,…
In this paper we compute new multi-zone photo-chemical evolution models for elliptical galaxies, taking into account detailed nucleosynthetic yields, feedback from supernovae and an initial infall episode. By comparing model predictions…
We find a strong correlation between the effective radius of the largest early-type galaxies in compact groups of galaxies and the velocity dispersion of the groups. The lack of a similar correlation for late type galaxies is supportive of…
Theoretical considerations and observational data support the idea that mergers were more frequent in the past. At high redshifts, violent interactions and mergers may be implicated in the origin of Lyman-break galaxies, sub-mm starbursts,…
We demonstrate that massive simulated galaxies assemble in two phases, with the initial growth dominated by compact in situ star formation, whereas the late growth is dominated by accretion of old stars formed in subunits outside the main…
The history of galaxy formation via star formation and stellar mass assembly rates is now known with some certainty, yet the connection between high redshift and low redshift galaxy populations is not yet clear. By identifying and studying…
Explaining the formation and evolution of galaxies is one of the most challenging problems in observational cosmology. Many observations suggest that galaxies we see today could have evolved from the merging of smaller subsystems. Evolution…