Related papers: The AIMSS Project I: Bridging the Star Cluster - G…

Compact elliptical galaxies are characterized by small sizes and high stellar densities. They are thought to form through tidal stripping of massive progenitors. However, only a handful of them were known, preventing us from understanding…

We study a sample of 43 early-type galaxies, selected from the SDSS because they appeared to have velocity dispersion > 350 km/s. High-resolution photometry in the SDSS i passband using HRC-ACS on board the HST shows that just less than…

The formation pathways of compact stellar systems (CSSs) are still under debate. We utilize the \NH\ simulation to investigate the origins of such objects in the field environment. We identified 55 CSS candidates in the simulation whose…

We compared the properties of 56 elliptical galaxies selected from three clusters at $1.2<z<1.4$ with those of field galaxies in the GOODS-S (~30), COSMOS (~180) and CANDELS (~220) fields. We studied the relationships among effective…

[Abridged] Over the years, several compact group catalogues have been built using different methods, but most of them are not deep enough to go beyond the very local universe with a high level of redshift completeness. We build…

We present spatially-resolved two-dimensional maps and radial trends of the stellar populations and kinematics for a sample of six compact elliptical galaxies (cE) using spectroscopy from the Keck Cosmic Web Imager (KCWI). We recover their…

We have investigated the properties of a volume and magnitude limited sample of nearby early type galaxies that were carefully selected from the AAO two degree field galaxy redshift survey. We used images from the DSS to confirm the E/S0…

The initial cluster mass function (ICMF) is a fundamental property of star formation in galaxies. To gauge its universality, we measure and compare the ICMFs in irregular and spiral galaxies. Our sample of irregular galaxies is based on 13…

(Abridged) Objects with radii of 10 to 100 pc and masses in the range from 10^6 to 10^8 M_sun have been discovered during the past decade. These so-called ultra compact dwarf galaxies (UCDs) constitute a transition between classical star…

At which masses does the regime of globular clusters end and the one of dwarf galaxies begin? And what separates these two classes of hot stellar systems? We examine to what extend very massive (>10^7 Mo) young star clusters are similar to…

We examine stellar population gradients in ~100 massive early type galaxies spanning 180 < sigma* < 370 km/s and M_K of -22.5 to -26.5 mag, observed as part of the MASSIVE survey (Ma et al. 2014). Using integral-field spectroscopy from the…

Star clusters are ideal tracers of star formation activity in systems outside the volume that can be studied using individual, resolved stars. These unresolved clusters span orders of magnitude in brightness and mass, and their formation is…

We present a structural analysis of 138 compact elliptical galaxies (cEs) in the redshift range of $z < 0.05$ using the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) DR12 data. We perform single- and double-component S\'ersic model fitting to their SDSS…

Ultra-compact dwarf galaxies (UCDs) are predominatly found in the cores of nearby galaxy clusters. Besides the Fornax and Virgo cluster, UCDs have also been confirmed in the twice as distant Hydra I and Centaurus clusters. Having (nearly)…

This work is focused on the study of the distribution in the CPPS of passive and star-forming galaxy populations and also, the intense and quiescent star-forming populations for a set of 9 nearby z<0.05 galaxy clusters. Furthermore, we…

An overview of our current understanding of the formation and evolution of star clusters is given, with main emphasis on high-mass clusters. Clusters form deeply embedded within dense clouds of molecular gas. Left-over gas is cleared within…

In the last decade star clusters have been found in the centers of spiral galaxies across all Hubble types. We here present a spectroscopic study of the exceptionally bright (10^6 - 10^8 Lsun) but compact (Re ~ 5 pc) nuclear star clusters…

Nearly all globular clusters (GCs) studied to date show evidence for multiple stellar populations, in stark contrast to the conventional view that GCs are a mono-metallic, coeval population of stars. Building on earlier work, we propose a…

We present the stellar population content of early-type galaxies from the Atlas3D survey. Using spectra integrated within apertures covering up to one effective radius, we apply two methods: one based on measuring line-strength indices and…

The dynamics of the merger of a dwarf disc galaxy with a massive spiral galaxy of the Milky Way type have been studied in detail. The remnant of such interaction after numerous crossings of the satellite through the disc of the main galaxy…