Related papers: Gaussian Random Field: Physical Origin of Sersic P…
We fit the surface-brightness profiles of 21 elliptical galaxies using both the Sersic function and a new empirical model which combines an inner power law with an outer Sersic function. The profiles are combinations of deconvolved HST…
A new solution is presented for the puzzling, observed universality of the exponential luminosity profiles, perpendicular to the disk plane of spiral and lenticular galaxies. It is shown that such exponential $z$-profiles result naturally…
High-resolution N--body simulations show a remarkable similarity in the structure of dark matter halos formed through dissipationless hierarchical clustering. Independent of halo mass, power spectrum, and cosmological parameters, the…
We provide a physical interpretation and explanation of the morphology-density relation for galaxies, drawing on stellar masses, star formation rates, axis ratios and group halo masses from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. We first re-cast the…
The formation and evolution of galaxies is one of the great outstanding problems of astrophysics. Within the broad context of hierachical structure formation, we have only a crude picture of how galaxies like our own came into existence. A…
The evolution of galaxies is known to be connected to their position within the large-scale structure and their local environmental density. We investigate the relative importance of these using the underlying dark matter density field…
Since 2015 there has been a great deal of interest in a supposed new class of galaxy called Ultra Diffuse Galaxies (UDGs). These are large systems with sizes $> 1.5$ kpc and have surface brightness values which are $\mu > 25$ mag…
We investigate scaling relations of bulges using bulge-disk decompositions at 3.6 micron and present bulge classifications for 173 E-Sd galaxies within 20 Mpc. Pseudobulges and classical bulges are identified using Sersic index, HST…
In order to investigate whether galaxy structures are compatible with the predictions of the standard LCDM cosmology, we focus here on the analysis of several simple and basic statistical properties of the galaxy density field. Namely, we…
Galaxies are seen from different viewing angles and their observed properties change as a function of viewing angle. In many circumstances we would rather know the intrinsic properties of galaxies - those properties that do not depend on…
We present results of a measurement of the shape of the density profile of galaxy groups and clusters traced by 43 335 Luminous Red Galaxies (LRGs) with spectroscopic redshifts from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). The galaxies are…
Understanding $\textit{galaxy bias}$ -- that is the statistical relation between matter and galaxies -- is of key importance for extracting cosmological information from galaxy surveys. While the bias function $f$ -- that is the probability…
We use HST/WFC3 imaging from the CANDELS Multicycle Treasury Survey, in conjunction with the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, to explore the evolution of galactic structure for galaxies with stellar masses >3e10M_sun from z=2.2 to the present…
Most giant spiral galaxies have pseudo or disk-like bulges that are considered to be the result of purely secular processes. This may challenge the hierarchical scenario predicting about one major merger per massive galaxy ($>$$3\times…
Star formation in galaxies is triggered by a combination of processes, including gravitational instabilities, spiral wave shocks, stellar compression, and turbulence compression. Some of these persist in the far outer regions where the…
(Abridged) Fossil systems are group- or cluster-sized objects whose luminosity is dominated by a very massive central galaxy. In the current cold dark matter scenario, these objects formed hierarchically at an early epoch of the Universe…
We have measured the central structural properties for a sample of S0-Sbc galaxies down to scales of ~10 pc using HST NICMOS images. We find that the photometric masses of the central star clusters, which occur in 58% of our sample, are…
In the standard theory of growth of the nonbaryonic dark matter, cosmic structures form hierarchically and self-similarly from smaller clumps. The assembly merger tree goes from the linear perturbations in the early universe to highly non…
We suggest that the bulge-to-disc ratios of spiral galaxies are primarily determined by the angular momenta of their host haloes predicted in current hierarchical clustering models for structure formation. Gas with low specific angular…
We determine what aspects of the density field surrounding galaxies most affect their properties. For Sloan Digital Sky Survey galaxies, we measure the group environment, meaning the host group luminosity and the distance from the group…