Related papers: Forming Lenticular Galaxies via Violent Disk Insta…
Using three fiducial Nbody+SPH simulations, we follow the merging of two disk galaxies with a hot gaseous halo component each, and examine whether the merger remnant can be a spiral galaxy. The stellar progenitor disks are destroyed by…
In both observed and simulated galaxies, disk morphologies become more prevalent at higher masses and lower redshifts. To elucidate the physical origin of this trend, we develop a simple analytical model in which galaxy morphology is…
A large fraction of bulgeless disk galaxies contain young compact stellar systems at their centers, in spite of the local gravitational stability of these disks. We evaluate two contrasting hypotheses for the origin of the nuclear star…
The CALIFA team has recently found that the stellar angular momentum and concentration of late-type spiral galaxies are incompatible with those of lenticular galaxies (S0s), concluding that fading alone cannot satisfactorily explain the…
The analysis of disk formation is based on the White & Rees (1978) picture, in which disk galaxies form by continuous cooling and accretion of gas within a merging hierarchy of dark matter halos. A simple Kennicutt law of star formation for…
In these proceedings, we summarize recent results from our "SINS" VLT/SINFONI integral-field survey, focusing on the 52 detected UV/optically-selected star-forming galaxies at z~2. Our H-alpha emission-line imaging and kinematic data of…
We present the results of several detailed numerical N-body simulations of the dynamical interactions of two equal mass disc galaxies. Both galaxies are embedded in spherical halos of dark matter and contain central bulges. Our analysis of…
The central regions of galaxies show the presence of massive black holes and/or dense stellar systems. The question about their modes of formation is still under debate. A likely explanation of the formation of the central dense stellar…
Galaxy disks evolve through angular momentum transfers between sub-components, like gas, stars, or dark matter halos, through non axi-symmetric instabilities. The speed of this evolution is boosted in presence of a large fraction of cold…
Observations suggest that the structural parameters of disk galaxies have not changed greatly since redshift 1. We examine whether these observations are consistent with a cosmology in which structures form hierarchically. We use SPH/N-body…
Galaxies can be classified in two broad sequences which are likely to reflect their formation mechanism. The `main sequence', consisting of spirals, irregulars and all dwarf galaxies, is probably produced by gas settling within dark matter…
We use numerical simulations to examine the structure of merger remnants resulting from collisions of gas-rich spiral galaxies. When the gas fraction of the progenitors is small, the remnants structurally and kinematically resemble…
Using the deepest and the most complete set of observations of distant galaxies, we investigate how extended disks could have formed. Observations include spatially-resolved kinematics, detailed morphologies and photometry from UV to…
We model gravitational collapse leading to star formation in a wide range of isolated disk galaxies using a three-dimensional, smoothed particle hydrodynamics code. The model galaxies include a dark matter halo and a disk of stars and…
Gravitational lensing studies suggest that the Universe may contain a population of dark galaxies; we investigate this intriguing possibility and propose a mechanism to explain their nature. In this mechanism a dark galaxy is formed with a…
Spirals in galaxies have long been thought to be caused by gravitational instability in the stellar component of the disk, but discerning the precise mechanism had proved elusive. Tidal interactions, and perhaps bars, may provoke some…
The massive galaxies in the young universe, ten billion years ago, formed stars at surprising intensities. Although this is commonly attributed to violent mergers, the properties of many of these galaxies are incompatible with such events,…
Spiral galaxies comprise three major structural components; thin discs, thick discs, and central bulges. Relative dominance of these components is known to correlate with the total mass of the galaxy, and produces a remarkable morphological…
Self-gravitating systems evolve toward the most tightly bound configuration that is reachable via available evolution processes. The inner parts shrink and the outer parts expand, provided that some physical process transports energy or…
Gas-rich disks in the early universe are highly turbulent and have giant star-forming clumps. Models suggest the clumps form by gravitational instabilities, and if they resist disruption by star formation, then they interact, lose angular…