Related papers: The structural and dynamical properties of compact…
The presence of massive quiescent galaxies at high redshifts is still a challenge for most models of galaxy formation. The aim of this work is to compare the observed number density and properties of these galaxies with the predictions of…
Galaxy evolution during the last 9 Gyr is discussed. It can be traced back from well known present-day galaxies or directly observed for galaxies at different look back times. This requires clear and consistently matched selection criteria…
In this paper, we use stacking analysis to trace the mass-growth, colour evolution, and structural evolution of present-day massive galaxies ($\log(M_{*}/M_{\odot})=11.5$) out to $z=5$. We utilize the exceptional depth and area of 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…
In this paper we investigate the mass assembly history of ultramassive (Mstar > 10^11Msun) dense (Sigma = Mstar/(2*pi*Re^2) > 2500 Msun/pc^2) early-type galaxies (ETGs) over the last 9 Gyr. We have traced the evolution of the number density…
Within the established framework of structure formation, galaxies start as systems of low stellar mass and gradually grow into far more massive galaxies. The existence of massive galaxies in the first billion years of the Universe,…
We analyze 40 cosmological re-simulations of individual massive galaxies with present-day stellar masses of $M_{*} > 6.3 \times 10^{10} M_{\odot}$ in order to investigate the physical origin of the observed strong increase in galaxy sizes…
Star formation in elliptical galaxies (Es) was and is mostly dominated by mergers and accretions with many suggestive examples seen among local galaxies. Present day star formation in Es is easily measurable in two thirds of Es and appears…
Massive compact galaxies seem to be more common at high redshift than in the local universe, especially in denser environments. To investigate the fate of such massive galaxies identified at z~2 we analyse the evolution of their properties…
[abridged] We study the dependence of the galaxy size evolution on morphology, stellar mass and large scale environment for a sample of 298 group and 384 field quiescent early-type galaxies from the COSMOS survey, selected from z~1 to the…
Many of the early-type galaxies observed so far at z>1 turned out to have smaller radii with respect to that of a typical present-day early-type galaxy with comparable mass. This has generated the conviction that in the past early-type…
The stellar populations of intermediate-redshift galaxies can shed light onto the growth of massive galaxies in the last 8 billion years. We perform deep, multi-object rest-frame optical spectroscopy with IMACS/Magellan of ~70 galaxies in…
[Abridged] We study the properties, evolution and formation mechanisms of isolated field elliptical galaxies. We create a mock catalogue of isolated field elliptical galaxies from the Millennium Simulation Galaxy Catalogue, and trace their…
We compare the relations among various integrated characteristics of ~25,000 low-redshift (z<1.0) compact star-forming galaxies (CSFGs) from Data Release 16 (DR16) of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and of high-redshift (z>1.5)…
In a systematic search over 11 cluster fields from Cluster Lensing And Supernova survey with Hubble (CLASH) we identify ten passively evolving massive galaxies at redshift z~2.We derive the stellar properties of these galaxies using HST…
We have collected optical follow-up observations from the ground and the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) for 13.74 square ' of archival images taken with the Near Infrared Camera and Multi Object Spectrograph (NICMOS). We use two criteria to…
ABRIDGED: We study the evolution since z~1 of the rest-frame B luminosity function of the early-type galaxies (ETGs) in ~0.7 deg^2 in the COSMOS field. In order to identify ALL progenitors of local ETGs we construct the sample of high-z…
How elliptical galaxy dynamics relate to galaxy structure, stellar populations, spiral galaxies and environment are reviewed. The evidence assembled shows that most, if not all, galaxies originally classified as gE contain disks within…
I discuss current observational constraints on the star-formation and stellar-assembly histories of galaxies at high redshifts. The data on massive galaxies at z<1 implies that their stellar populations formed at z>2, and that their…
Taking advantage of HST CANDELS data, we analyze the lowest redshift (z<0.5) massive galaxies in order to disentangle their structural constituents and study possible faint non-axis-symmetric features. Due to the excellent HST spatial…