Related papers: Galaxy Formation: Where Do We Stand?
Theories of how galaxies, the fundamental constituents of large-scale structure, form and evolve have undergone a dramatic paradigm shift in the last few decades. Earlier views were of rapid, early collapse and formation of basic…
Galaxy formation is at the forefront of observation and theory in cosmology. An improved understanding is essential for improving our knowledge both of the cosmological parameters, of the contents of the universe, and of our origins. In…
I set the stage for discussion of the stellar populations in interacting galaxies by looking back over the slow development of our understanding of these systems. From early anecdotal collections, to systematic cataloging, and finally to…
Star formation rate and accummulated stellar mass are two fundamental physical quantities that describe the evolutionary state of a forming galaxy. Two recent attempts to determine the relationship between these quantities, by interpreting…
The evolution of our Universe is strongly influenced by the attractive force of gravity. A key aspect of this evolution, therefore, is the merging of galaxies. Here, we explore the role of mergers in shaping the properties of massive…
Recent observations indicate a remarkable similarity in the properties of evolving galaxies at fixed mass and redshift, prompting us to consider the possibility that most galaxies may evolve with a common history encompassing star…
Great strides have been made in the last two decades in determining how galaxies evolve from their initial dark matter seeds to the complex structures we observe at z=0. The role of mergers has been documented through both observations and…
I review the current state of our understanding of the galaxy formation and evolution process from the modeler's perspective. With the advent of the cold dark matter model and the support of fast computers and advanced simulation…
Galaxies form and evolve in the context of their local and large-scale environments. Their baryonic content that we observe with imaging and spectroscopy is intimately connected to the properties of their dark matter halos, and to their…
The evolution of galaxy merger rates and its impact on galaxy properties have been studied intensively over the last decade. It becomes clear now that various types of mergers, i.e. gas-rich (wet), gas-poor (dry), or mixed mergers, affect…
A major goal of contemporary astrophysics is understanding the origin of the most massive galaxies in the universe, particularly nearby ellipticals and spirals. Theoretical models of galaxy formation have existed for many decades, although…
I discuss recent theoretical work on the formation and evolution of galaxies paying particular attention to the ability of current models to make detailed comparisons with observations of the galaxy population both nearby and at high…
There are three major axes to describe the evolution of galaxies, namely, time (redshift), space (environment) and mass (stellar mass). In this article, one topic each will be presented along these axes. (1) Based on the Subaru wide-field…
We explore the motivation behind large stellar surveys in Galactic astronomy, in particular, surveys that measure the photometric, phase space and abundance properties of thousands or millions of stars. These observations are essential to…
This paper discusses how cosmic gas accretion controls star formation, and summarizes the physical properties expected for the cosmic gas accreted by galaxies. The paper also collects observational evidence for gas accretion sustaining star…
Understanding the formation history of massive galaxies is one of most popular and longstanding problems in astronomy, with observations and theory addressing how and when these systems assembled. Since the most massive galaxies in today's…
I begin by summarizing the evidence that there is a close relationship between the evolution of galaxies and supermassive black holes. They evidently share a common fuel source, and feedback from the black hole may be needed to suppress…
The evolution of the galaxy stellar mass function is especially useful to test the current model of galaxy formation. Observational data have revealed a few inconsistencies with predictions from the $\Lambda {\rm CDM}$ model. For example,…
This paper addresses the questions of what we have learned about how and when dense star clusters form, and what studies of star clusters have revealed about galaxy formation and evolution. One important observation is that globular…
We examine galaxy formation in a cosmological AMR simulation, which includes two high resolution boxes, one centered on a 3 \times 10^14 M\odot cluster, and one centered on a void. We examine the evolution of 611 massive (M\ast >…