Related papers: Origin and Evolution of Structure and Nucleosynthe…
Stars are fossils that retain the history of their host galaxies. Carbon and heavier elements are created inside stars and are ejected when they die. From the spatial distribution of elements in galaxies, it is therefore possible to…
Hundreds of globular clusters and dwarf galaxies encircle the Milky Way. Many of these systems have undergone partial disruption due to tidal forces, littering the halo with stellar streams. These tidal tails are sensitive to the Galactic…
The central regions of galaxies show the presence of massive black holes and/or dense stellar systems. The question about their modes of formation is still under debate. A likely explanation of the formation of the central dense stellar…
The abundance of elements synthesized by the rapid neutron-capture process (r-process elements) of extremely metal-poor (EMP) stars in the Local Group galaxies gives us clues to clarify the early evolutionary history of the Milky Way halo.…
Current ideas on the formation of the Galaxy are reviewed. Many of the observed characteristics of our Milky Way System are consistent with a scenario in which the Galaxy formed inside out, with the inner part of it evolving by rapid…
In this series of lectures I discuss the basic principles and the modelling of the chemical evolution of galaxies. In particular, I present models for the chemical evolution of the Milky Way galaxy and compare them with the available…
We simulate the formation and evolution of the local galaxy population starting from initial conditions with a smoothed linear density field which matches that derived from the IRAS 1.2 Jy galaxy survey. Our simulations track the formation…
I discuss various proposed formation scenarios for the metal-poor components of the Milky Way Galaxy, emphasising the stellar halo and the thick disk. Interactions and accretion played a significant role in Galactic evolution, in particular…
The surroundings of globular clusters in the outer halo are one of the best places to look for the remnants of ancient dwarf satellites. The classical Searle & Zinn (1978) scenario of the formation of the Milky Way, in which the halo…
We use numerical simulations to examine the substructure within galactic and cluster mass halos that form within a hierarchical universe. Clusters are easily reproduced with a steep mass spectrum of thousands of substructure clumps that…
The formation and structure of the Milky Way has a fundamental role in our understanding of the universe and its evolution, and thanks to the Gaia mission and large spectroscopic surveys, we live an exceptional moment of data availability,…
The goal of this investigation is to reconstruct the cosmic star formation rate density history from local observations and in doing so to gain insight into how galaxies might have formed and evolved. A new chemical evolution model is…
Stellar halos may hold some of the best preserved fossils of the formation history of galaxies. They are a natural product of the merging processes that probably take place during the assembly of a galaxy, and hence may well be the most…
The formation of the Milky Way is discussed within the context of the cold dark matter scenario. Several problems arise which can be solved if the Galaxy experienced an early phase of gas heating and decoupling from the dark matter…
How do galaxies form and evolve? This is one of the most puzzling questions in astronomy. Galaxy assembly takes place throughout the entire history of the Universe, but our understanding of it is hampered by the unfortunate fact that we can…
We use a cosmological simulation of the formation of the Local Group of Galaxies to identify a mechanism that enables the removal of baryons from low-mass halos without appealing to feedback or reionization. As the Local Group forms, matter…
Galaxies with Milky Way-like stellar masses have a wide range of bulge and black hole masses; in turn, these correlate with other properties such as star formation history. While many processes may drive bulge formation, major and minor…
I review observational studies of the large-scale star formation process in nearby galaxies. A wealth of new multi-wavelength data provide an unprecedented view on the interplay of the interstellar medium and (young) stellar populations on…
We present a novel self-consistent theoretical framework to characterize the formation, evolution, and merger sites of dynamically-formed black hole binaries, with a focus on explaining the most massive events observed by the…
We investigate the formation and evolution of dwarf galaxies in a high resolution, hydrodynamical cosmological simulation of a Milky Way sized halo and its environment. Our simulation includes gas cooling, star formation, supernova…