Related papers: Isolated compact elliptical galaxies: Stellar syst…
Compact groups of galaxies have posed a number of challenging questions. Intensive observational and theoretical studies are now providing answers to many of these, and at the same time, are revealing unexpected new clues about the nature…
The discovery of a population of massive, compact and quiescent early-type galaxies has changed the view on plausible formation scenarios for the present day population of elliptical galaxies. Traditionally assumed formation histories…
Mergers of gas-poor galaxies, so-called dry mergers, may play a fundamental role in the assembly of the most massive galaxies, and therefore, in galaxy formation theories. Using the SDSS, we have serendipitously discovered a rare system in…
Recent deep Hubble Space Telescope WFC3 imaging suggests that a majority of compact quiescent massive galaxies at z~2 may contain disks. To investigate this claim, we have compared the ellipticity distribution of 31 carefully selected…
New observations of 16 dwarf elliptical galaxies in the Virgo Cluster indicate that at least seven dEs have significant velocity gradients along their optical major axis, with typical rotation amplitudes of 20-30 km/s. Of the remaining nine…
We determine relative stellar ages and metallicities mainly for about 80 elliptical galaxies in low and high density environments via the latest binary stellar population (BSP) synthesis model and test a latest hierarchical formation model…
We search for hints to the origin and nature of compact stellar systems in the magnitude range of ultracompact dwarf galaxies in deep wide-field imaging data of the Fornax cluster core. We visually investigate a large sample of 355…
Stellar archeology shows that massive elliptical galaxies today formed rapidly about ten billion years ago with star formation rates above several hundreds solar masses per year (M_sun/yr). Their progenitors are likely the…
From R-band images of 42 Hickson compact groups, we present a sample of 47 candidate dwarf galaxies that are associated with the tidal tails and arms in the groups. The candidates, found in 15 tidal features, have R magnitudes and masses…
Ultra Compact Dwarf Galaxies (UCDs) and dwarf galaxy nuclei have many common properties, such as internal velocity dispersions and colour-magnitude trends, suggesting tidally stripped dwarf galaxies as a possible UCD origin. However, UCDs…
A model is proposed for the formation of gas-rich dwarf irregular galaxies and gas-poor, rotating dwarf elliptical galaxies following the interaction between two giant galaxies as a function of space density. The formation of dwarf galaxies…
Large self-gravitating stellar systems share with correlated liquids in condensed matter physics a pattern of hierarchical density variations. While it takes the microscopic time resolution to discern the correlated dynamics of the critical…
Elliptical galaxies outside dense clusters are observed to contain small amounts (relative to spiral galaxies) of cold interstellar gas. This review discusses the atomic gas, the molecular gas, and the dust in elliptical galaxies. Field…
In this contribution the discovery and properties of ultra-compact dwarf galaxies are presented, and their possible origin is discussed. This new type of galaxy resides in the cores of galaxy clusters. In the fundamental plane diagram of…
We examine the properties of galaxies in compact groups identified in a mock galaxy catalogue based upon the Millennium Run simulation. The overall properties of groups identified in projection are in general agreement with the best…
Globular clusters are valuable fossil records of the formation and evolution of their host galaxies. The color distribution of elliptical galaxy globular cluster systems indicates an episodic formation history, consistent with a merger…
(Abridged) We investigate the number of physical companion galaxies for a sample of relatively isolated elliptical galaxies. NED has been used to reinvestigate the incidence of satellite galaxies for a sample of 34 elliptical galaxies,…
A brief overview of the properties of massive star clusters in early-type galaxies is given. All ellipticals (with only one known exception) host massive star clusters in the form of globular clusters, suggesting that their formation is…
We report a list of groups consisting of dwarf galaxies only. The sample contains 126 objects, mainly combined in pairs. The most populated group contains six dwarf galaxies. The majority of systems considered reside in the low-density…
Growing evidence for the existence of two classes of ellipticals calls for a comparison of the properties of their globular cluster systems. I compiled information on the properties of over 50 globular cluster systems of faint and bright…