Related papers: The structural and dynamical properties of compact…
In the last decades, extended old stellar clusters have been observed. These extended objects cover a large range in masses, from extended clusters or faint fuzzies to ultra compact dwarf galaxies. It has been demonstrated that these…
We analyze the star-forming and structural properties of 45 massive (log(M/Msun)>10) compact star-forming galaxies (SFGs) at 2<z<3 to explore whether they are progenitors of compact quiescent galaxies at z~2. The optical/NIR and far-IR…
Despite significant efforts in the recent years, the physical processes responsible for the formation of passive galaxies through cosmic time remain unclear. The shape and evolution of the Stellar Mass Function (SMF) give an insight into…
Motivated by recent developments in our understanding of the formation and evolution of massive galaxies, we explore the detailed photometric structure of a representative sample of 94 bright, nearby elliptical galaxies, using high-quality…
At fixed stellar mass $M_*$, the effective radius $R_{\rm e}$ of massive satellite early-type galaxies (ETGs) in galaxy clusters is, on average, larger at lower redshift. We study theoretically this size evolution using the state-of-the-art…
Using cosmological N-body simulations of critical (SCDM) and open (Omega_0=0.3, OCDM) cold dark matter models we have identified dark matter halos which are associated with the progenitors of present day bright early type galaxies. By…
We present individual star-formation histories of $\sim3000$ massive galaxies (log($\mathrm{M_*/M_{\odot}}$) > 10.5) from the Large Early Galaxy Astrophysics Census (LEGA-C) spectroscopic survey at a lookback time of $\sim$7 billion years…
We present spatially resolved stellar rotation velocity and velocity dispersion profiles form Keck/LRIS absorption-line spectra for 25 galaxies, mostly visually classified ellipticals, in three clusters at z=0.5. We interpret the…
Massive galaxies are key probes to understand how the baryonic matter evolves within the dark matter halos. We use the "archaeological" approach to infer the stellar population properties and star formation histories of the most massive (M…
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 detailed analysis of the Galaxy Stellar Mass Function of galaxies up to z=2.5 as obtained from the VVDS. We estimate the stellar mass from broad-band photometry using 2 different assumptions on the galaxy star formation history…
(Abridged) Fossil systems are galaxy associations dominated by a relatively isolated, bright elliptical galaxy, surrounded by a group of smaller galaxies lacking L* objects. We analyzed the near-infrared photometric and structural…
We analyze a sample of 23 supermassive elliptical galaxies (central velocity dispersion larger than 330 km s-1), drawn from the SDSS. For each object, we estimate the dynamical mass from the light profile and central velocity dispersion,…
We observed twelve nearby HI -detected early-type galaxies (ETGs) of stellar mass $\sim 10^{10}M\odot \leq M_* \leq \sim 10^{11}M\odot$ with the Mitchell Integral-Field Spectrograph, reaching approximately three half-light radii in most…
Combined HST, X-ray, and ground-based optical studies show that clusters of galaxies are largely "in place" by $z \sim 1$, an epoch when the Universe was less than half its present age. High resolution images show that elliptical, S0, and…
Early type galaxies (ETG) contain most of the stars present in the local Universe and, above a stellar mass of ~5e10 Msun, vastly outnumber spiral galaxies like the Milky Way. These massive spheroidal galaxies have, in the present day, very…
We study the stellar populations of 1,923 elliptical galaxies at z<0.05 selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey as a function of velocity dispersion, sigma, and environment. We construct average, high signal-to-noise spectra and find the…
We use the SED-fitting code Prospector to reconstruct the nonparametric star formation history (SFH) of massive ($\log M_*>10.3$) star-forming galaxies (SFGs) and quiescent galaxies (QGs) at redshift $z_{\rm{obs}}\sim2$ to investigate the…
We review the most recent observational results on the formation and evolution of early-type galaxies and their mass assembly by focusing on: the existence, properties and role of distant old, massive, passive systems to z~2, the stellar…
Using a sample of ~28,000 sources selected at 3.6-4.5 microns with Spitzer observations of the HDF-N, the CDF-S, and the Lockman Hole (surveyed area: ~664 arcmin^2), we study the evolution of the stellar mass content of the Universe at…