Related papers: Evidence for Two Distinct Stellar Initial Mass Fun…
In this study, we analyse the characteristics of stellar populations and the interstellar medium (ISM) in 15,107 early-type central galaxies from the SPIDER survey. Using optical spectra from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), we…
Several recent observational studies have concluded that the initial mass function (IMF) of stars varies systematically with galaxy properties such as velocity dispersion. In this paper, we investigate the effect of linking the circular…
In this thesis we study several aspects of dynamical evolution of stellar clusters. The results of more than 200 simulations of single-mass star clusters with different initial total mass, half-mass radius and galactocentric distance, are…
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 process of galaxy cluster formation likely leaves an imprint on the properties of its individual member galaxies. Understanding this process is essential for uncovering the evolutionary connections between galaxies and cosmic…
We present a new determination of the cluster mass function and velocity dispersion function in a volume $\sim10^7 h^3$Mpc$^{-3}$ using the Fourth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). We use the caustic technique to remove…
We point out a strong time-evolution of the mass-to-light conversion factor \eta commonly used to estimate masses of dense star clusters from observed cluster radii and stellar velocity dispersions. We use a gas-dynamical model coupled with…
Precise radial velocity measurements from HIRES on the Keck I telescope are presented for 40 stars in the outer halo globular cluster NGC 2419. These data are used to probe the cluster's stellar mass function and search for the presence of…
We use a combination of N-body simulations of the hierarchical clustering of dark matter and semi-analytic modelling of the physics of galaxy formation to probe the relationship between the galaxy distribution and the mass distribution. The…
The observed dynamical mass-to-light (M/L) ratios of globular clusters (GCs) are systematically lower than those expected from `canonical' simple stellar population models, which do not account for the preferential loss of low-mass stars…
We compute the evolution of the space-dependent mass distribution of galaxies in clusters due to binary aggregations by solving a space-dependent Smoluchowski equation. We derive the distribution of intergalactic distance for different…
We study the radial number density and stellar mass density distributions of satellite galaxies in a sample of 60 massive clusters at 0.04<z<0.26 selected from the Multi-Epoch Nearby Cluster Survey (MENeaCS) and the Canadian Cluster…
Globular clusters (GCs) are known to host multiple stellar populations showing chemical anomalies in the content of light elements. The origin of such anomalies observed in Galactic GCs is still debated. Here we analyse data compiled from…
We present the analysis of the galaxy stellar mass function in different environments at intermediate redshift (0.3<z<0.8) for two mass-limited galaxy samples. We use the IMACS Cluster Building Survey (ICBS), at masses M_ast >10^(10.5)…
A number of recent observational studies of Galactic globular clusters have measured the variation in the slope of a cluster's stellar mass function $\alpha$ with clustercentric distance $r$. In order to gather a deeper understanding of the…
This is a continuation of our study of open clusters based on the 2--Micron All Sky Survey photometry. Here we present the results of the mass function analysis for 599 known open clusters in the Milky Way. The main goal of this project is…
We present a new implementation of star formation in cosmological simulations, by considering star clusters as a unit of star formation. Cluster particles grow in mass over several million years at the rate determined by local gas…
Populations of young star clusters show significant differences even among "normal" disk galaxies. In this contribution I discuss how properties of young cluster systems are related to those of their host galaxies, based on a recent study…
The Hydra I cluster offers an excellent opportunity to study and compare the relic old stellar populations in the core of its two brightest galaxies. In addition, the differing kinematics of the two galaxies allows a test of the local…
We present a method for investigating variations in the upper end of the stellar Initial Mass Function (IMF) by probing the production rate of ionizing photons in unresolved, compact star clusters with ages <~10 Myr and with different…