Related papers: Theoretical Challenges in Galaxy Formation
Using numerical simulation, we study the development of gaseous inflows and triggering of starburst activity in mergers of comparable-mass disk galaxies. In all encounters studied, the galaxies experience strong gaseous inflows and moderate…
Interstellar space is filled with a dilute mixture of charged particles, atoms, molecules and dust grains, called the interstellar medium (ISM). Understanding its physical properties and dynamical behavior is of pivotal importance to many…
Unopposed radiative cooling in clusters of galaxies results in excessive mass deposition rates. However, the cool cores of galaxy clusters are continuously heated by thermal conduction and turbulent heat diffusion due to minor mergers or…
In this review I give a summary of the state-of-the-art for what concerns the chemo-dynamical numerical modelling of galaxies in general and of dwarf galaxies in particular. In particular, I focus my attention on (i) initial conditions;…
During the last decade, numerous and varied observations, along with increasingly sophisticated numerical simulations, have awakened astronomers to the central role the circumgalactic medium (CGM) plays in regulating galaxy evolution. It…
Galaxy formation depends on a complex interplay between gravitational collapse, gas accretion, merging, and feedback processes. Yet, after many decades of investigation, these concepts are poorly understood. This paper presents the argument…
We introduce a new model for the structure and evolution of the gas in galactic discs. In the model the gas is in vertical pressure and energy balance. Star formation feedback injects energy and momentum, and non-axisymmetric torques…
A new view on our Galaxy has recently emerged, with large consequences on its formation scenarios. Not only new dwarf satellites have been detected, still orbiting and tidally disrupting, but also a multitude of stellar streams or tidal…
Galaxies are part of a vast cosmic ecosystem, embedded in an extensive gaseous reservoir that regulates their growth by providing the necessary fuel for star formation while preserving a fossil record of past interactions, outflows, and…
In this paper, we review recent and ongoing work by our group on numerical simulations of relativistic jets. Relativistic outflows in Astrophysics are related to dilute, high energy plasmas, with physical conditions out of the reach of…
Galaxy evolution depends strongly on the physics of the interstellar medium (ISM). Motivated by the need to incorporate the properties of the ISM in cosmological simulations we construct a simple method to include the contribution of…
Star formation depends on the available gaseous "fuel" as well as galactic environment, with higher specific star formation rates where gas is predominantly molecular and where stellar (and dark matter) densities are higher. The partition…
In the current galaxy formation scenarios, two physical phenomena are invoked to build disk galaxies: hierarchical mergers and more quiescent external gas accretion, coming from intergalactic filaments. Although both are thought to play a…
Galaxy-wide outflows driven by active galactic nuclei (AGN) are an important ingredient in galaxy evolution. Analytical calculations suggest that such outflows have significant inertia and can persist long after the AGN itself fades away.…
Galaxy haloes contain fundamental clues about the galaxy formation and evolution process: hierarchical cosmological models predict haloes to be ubiquitous, and to be (at least in part) the product of past merger and/or accretion events. The…
Understanding the star formation process is central to much of modern astrophysics. For several decades it has been thought that stellar birth is primarily controlled by the interplay between gravity and magnetostatic support, modulated by…
We present an analysis of the galaxy-scale gaseous outflows from the FIRE (Feedback in Realistic Environments) simulations. This suite of hydrodynamic cosmological zoom simulations resolves formation of star-forming giant molecular clouds…
The interstellar medium is a multiphase gas in which turbulent support is as important as thermal pressure. Sustaining this configuration requires both continuous turbulent stirring and continuous radiative cooling to match the decay of…
A significant fraction of clusters of galaxies are observed to have substructure, which implies that merging between clusters and subclusters is a rather common physical process of cluster formation. It still remains unclear how cluster…
Dwarf galaxies provide powerful laboratories for studying galaxy formation physics. Their early assembly, shallow gravitational potentials, and bursty, clustered star formation histories make them especially sensitive to the processes that…