Related papers: Modelling the formation of today's massive ellipti…
The most recent results and some of the open key questions on the evolution of early-type galaxies are reviewed in the general cosmological context of massive galaxy formation.
Star formation history shows a gradual decline since the last 8-9 Gyr (z=1). The bulk of present-day stellar mass and metal content was formed at redshifts lower than 2-3, which is consistent with a hierarchical scenario of galaxy…
We review the most recent observational results on the formation and evolution of early-type galaxies and their mass assembly by focusing on: the existence, properties and role of distant old, massive, passive systems to z~2, the stellar…
We test the hypothesis that elliptical galaxies are formed by violent mergers in a universe with hierarchical structure formation. Within the framework of a semi-analytic scheme for galaxy formation, we predict the distribution of…
Within the context of the standard structure formation scenario, massive present day elliptical galaxies are sometimes thought of as the result of a major merger of spiral systems. Through extensive SPH simulations of merging spirals, we…
We study the formation and the evolution of galaxy groups in a critical universe, showing the importance of secondary infall for their dynamical evolution. Merging is only slightly accelerated if galaxies have massive halos, because the…
I review theoretical models of star formation and how they apply across the stellar mass spectrum. Several distinct theories are under active study for massive star formation, especially Turbulent Core Accretion, Competitive Accretion and…
Elliptical and S0 galaxies dominate the galaxy population in nearby rich clusters such as Coma. Studies of the evolution of the colors, M/L ratios, and line indices of early-type galaxies indicate that they have been a highly homogeneous,…
The present-day globular cluster populations of galaxies reflect the cumulative effects of billions of years of galaxy evolution via such processes as mergers, tidal stripping, accretion, and in some cases the partial or even complete…
The last 20 years have seen an explosion in our understanding of the large-scale distribution and motions of galaxies in the nearby universe. The field has moved from a largely qualitative, morphological description of the structures seen…
Globular clusters are valuable fossil records of the formation and evolution of their host galaxies. The color distribution of elliptical galaxy globular cluster systems indicates an episodic formation history, consistent with a merger…
We present a model for the broad morphological distinction between the disk and spheroidal components of galaxies. Elaborating on the hierarchical clustering scheme of galaxy formation proposed by Cole et al., we assume that galaxies form…
We present a simple, empirically motivated model that simultaneously predicts the evolution of the mean size and the comoving mass density of massive early-type galaxies from z=2 to the present. First we demonstrate that some size evolution…
The history of the formation and evolution of the Milky Way Galaxy is found in the spatial distribution, kinematics, age and chemical abundance distributions of long-lived stars. From this fossil record one can in principle extract the star…
Here I present a review of the work done on the presence and effects of chaos in elliptical galaxies plus some recent results we obtained on this subject. The fact that important fractions of the orbits that arise in potentials adequate to…
The aim of this paper is to cast light on the formation and evolution of elliptical galaxies by means of N-body/hydro-dynamical simulations that include star formation, feed-back and chemical evolution. Particular attention is paid to the…
I review recent observational progress concerning the evolution of the morphological distribution of galaxies in the rich cluster environment and in the faint field population. By coupling HST imagery with ground-based spectroscopic…
We explore the evolution of the cold gas (molecular and neutral hydrogen) of elliptical galaxies and merger remnants ordered into a time sequence on the basis of spectroscopic age estimates. We find that the fraction of cold gas in early…
Galaxies in the early universe appear to have grown too big too fast, assembling into massive, monolithic objects more rapidly than anticipated in the hierarchical $\Lambda$CDM structure formation paradigm. The available photometric data…
The current hierarchical merging paradigm and $\Lambda$CDM predict that the $z \sim 4-8$ universe should be a time in which the most massive galaxies are transitioning from their initial halo assembly to the later baryonic evolution seen in…