Related papers: The Origin and Evolution of Fast and Slow Rotators…
Elliptical galaxies formed in a major merger tend to become more nearly spherical with time, thanks to the gravitational effect of their central black hole (or black holes). Observational results indicate that elliptical galaxies with older…
We use semi-analytical modelling of galaxy formation to predict the redshift-size-evolution of elliptical galaxies. Using a simple model in which relative sizes of elliptical galaxies of a given mass correlate with the fraction of stars…
We propose a simple model for the origin of fast and slow rotator early-type galaxies (ETG) within the hierarchical $\Lambda$CDM scenario, that is based on the assumption that the mass fraction of stellar discs in ETGs is a proxy for the…
How elliptical galaxies form is a key question in observational cosmology. While the formation of massive ellipticals is strongly linked to mergers, the low mass (Mstar < 10^9.5 MSun) regime remains less well explored. In particular,…
[Abridged] We study the spectral properties of intermediate mass galaxies as a function of colour and morphology. We use Galaxy Zoo to define three morphological classes of galaxies, namely early-types (ellipticals), late-type…
The tightness of the observed colour-magnitude and Mg$_{2}$- velocity dispersion relations for elliptical galaxies has often been cited as an argument against a picture in which ellipticals form by the merging of spiral disks. A common view…
Using a high resolution hydrodynamical cosmological simulation of the formation of a massive spheroidal galaxy we show that elliptical galaxies can be very compact and massive at high redshift in agreement with recent observations.…
In hierarchical models of galaxy formation, ellipticals form from the merging of disk galaxies drawn together by gravity as their surrounding dark halos coalesce. Using semi-analytic techniques, we are able to follow the merging, star…
We investigate whether gradual dilution of the gas in some elliptical galaxies is the cause of a positive correlation between star formation rate (SFR) and gas-phase metallicity (Zg) at high stellar mass (M*) in the local Universe. To do…
Multiple, sequential mergers are unavoidable in the hierarchical build-up picture of galaxies, in particular for the minor mergers that are frequent and highly likely to have occured several times for most present-day galaxies. However, the…
Building galaxy merger trees from a state-of-the-art cosmological hydrodynamics simulation, Horizon-AGN, we perform a statistical study of how mergers and smooth accretion drive galaxy morphologic properties above $z > 1$. More…
We present collisionless simulations of dry mergers in groups of three to twenty-five galaxies to test the hypothesis that elliptical galaxies form at the centers of such groups. Mock observations of the central remnants confirm their…
The luminosity dependence of kinematical and isophotal properties of elliptical galaxies is investigated using numerical simulations of galaxy merging, combined with semi-analytical models of hierarchical structure formation. Mergers of…
There are many proposed mechanisms driving the morphological transformation of disk galaxies to elliptical galaxies. In this paper, we determine if the observed transformation in low mass groups can be explained by the merger histories of…
We use the `Middle Ages Galaxy Properties with Integral field spectroscopy' (MAGPI) survey to investigate whether galaxies have evolved in the distribution of their stellar angular momentum in the past 3-4 Gyr, as probed by the…
We use a sample of $z=0$ galaxies visually classified as slow rotators (SRs) in the EAGLE hydrodynamical simulations to explore the effect of galaxy mergers on their formation, characterise their intrinsic galaxy properties, and study the…
Collisionless N-body simulations of merging disk-galaxies with mass ratios ($\eta$) of 1:1, 2:1, 3:1, and 4:1 have been performed using direct summation with the special purpose hardware GRAPE. The simulations are used to examine whether…
The main goal of this paper is to set up a numerical laboratory for the study of the slow evolution of the density and of the pressure tensor profiles of an otherwise collisionless stellar system, as a result of the interactions with a…
We use the Illustris simulation to study the relative contributions of in situ star formation and stellar accretion to the build-up of galaxies over an unprecedentedly wide range of masses ($M_{\ast} = 10^9-10^{12} \, {\rm M_{\odot}}$),…
Modern cosmological simulations model the universe with increasing sophistication and at higher spatial and temporal resolutions. These enhancements permit detailed comparisons between the simulation outputs and real observational data.…