Related papers: Isolated compact elliptical galaxies: Stellar syst…
Compact groups (CGs) of galaxies appear to be the densest galaxy systems containing a few luminous galaxies in close proximity to each other, which have a typical size of a few tens kilopacsec in observation. On the other hand, in the…
Elliptical galaxies are believed to consist of a single population of old stars formed together at an early epoch in the Universe, yet recent analyses of galaxy spectra seem to indicate the presence of significant younger populations of…
Galaxies that are being stripped of their gas can sometimes be recognized from their optical appearance. Extreme examples of stripped galaxies are the so-called ``jellyfish galaxies'', that exhibit tentacles of debris material with a…
Recent studies have shown that massive quiescent galaxies at high redshift are much more compact than present-day galaxies of the same mass. Here we compare the radial stellar density profiles and the number density of a sample of massive…
The kinematical properties of elliptical galaxies formed during the mergers of equal mass, stars+gas+dark matter spiral galaxies are compared to the observed low velocity dispersions found for planetary nebulae on the outskirts of…
With the aid of simple numerical models, we discuss a particular aspect of the interaction between stellar orbital periods inside elliptical galaxies (Es) and the parent cluster tidal field (CTF), i.e., the possibility that collisionless…
We review the observational evidences for tidal dwarf galaxies, a class of small galaxies formed out of the tidal debris of collisions between massive galaxies. Tidal dwarfs are found far from the interacting parent galaxies, associated to…
Dwarf ellipticals have the lowest stellar densities of any galaxies, but paradoxically are most common in the densest regions of the universe, and are especially frequent in rich clusters of galaxies. Simple estimates suggest that low…
Since the discovery of dark matter-deficient galaxies, numerous studies have shown that these exotic galaxies naturally occur in the $\Lambda$CDM model due to stronger tidal interactions. They are typically satellites, with stellar masses…
CONTEXT.The mass assembly is believed to be the dominant process of early galaxy formation. This mechanism of galaxy building can proceed either by repeated major mergers with other systems, or by means of accretion of matter from the…
The last decade of research on elliptical galaxies has produced a wealth of new information concerning both their detailed structure and their global scaling relations. We review the old and new results about isophote shapes and…
We report high quality near-infrared spectroscopy of 12 ultra-luminous infrared galaxy mergers (ULIRGs). Our new VLT and Keck data provide ~0.5" resolution, stellar and gas kinematics of these galaxies most of which are compact systems in…
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…
The formation and evolution of elliptical galaxies in low-density environments are less understood than classical elliptical galaxies in high-density environments. Isolated galaxies are defined as galaxies without massive neighbors within…
The structural properties of elliptical galaxies are consistent with their formation in a merging hierarchy. In this picture, the role of gaseous processes and dissipation decreased with increasing mass creating preferentially rotationally…
Galaxies can be classified in two broad sequences which are likely to reflect their formation mechanism. The `main sequence', consisting of spirals, irregulars and all dwarf galaxies, is probably produced by gas settling within dark matter…
Isolated galaxies are important since they probe the lowest density regimes inhabited by galaxies. We define a sample of 36 nearby isolated early-type galaxies for further study. Our isolation criteria require them to have no…
Without the interference of a number of events, galaxies may suffer in crowded environments (e.g., stripping, harassment, strangulation); isolated elliptical galaxies provide a control sample for the study of galaxy formation. We present…
What is the origin of the numerous population of diffuse elliptical galaxies (dE) in clusters? These galaxies formed their stars several billion years ago and lost their gas. Though the stellar winds resulting from star formation and the…
We present a statistical analysis of the properties of a large sample of dynamically hot old stellar systems, from globular clusters to giant ellipticals, which was performed in order to investigate the origin of ultra-compact dwarf…