Related papers: Deep Learning for Galaxy Mergers in the Galaxy Mai…
Galaxy cluster mergers that exhibit clear dissociation between their dark matter, intracluster gas, and stellar components are great laboratories for probing dark matter properties. Mergers that are binary and in the plane of the sky have…
Recent observations indicate that the progenitors of globular clusters (GCs) at high redshifts had high average stellar surface densities above $10^5\, \mathrm{M}_\odot\, \mathrm{pc}^{-2}$. The internal structure and kinematics of the…
We present the results of a series of empirical computations regarding the role of major mergers in forming the stellar masses of modern galaxies based on measurements of galaxy merger and star formation histories from z~0.5-3. We…
The so-called star-forming main sequence of galaxies is the apparent tight relationship between the star formation rate and stellar mass of a galaxy. Previous studies exclude galaxies which are not strictly 'star forming' from the main…
A major goal of contemporary astrophysics is understanding the origin of the most massive galaxies in the universe, particularly nearby ellipticals and spirals. Theoretical models of galaxy formation have existed for many decades, although…
We employ a high-resolution LCDM N-body simulation to present merger rate predictions for dark matter halos and investigate how common merger-related observables for galaxies--such as close pair counts, starburst counts, and the…
We present a study of galaxy mergers up to $z=10$ using the Planck Millennium cosmological dark matter simulation and the {\tt GALFORM} semi-analytical model of galaxy formation. Utilising the full ($800$ Mpc)$^3$ volume of the simulation,…
Optical and X-ray studies have established the prevalence of significant substructure in clusters of galaxies, indicating that clusters are young systems, and that recent major mergers have occurred in many clusters. Numerical simulations…
We present cross sections and reaction rates for merging to occur during encounters of equal-mass spherical galaxies. As an application, we determine the rate of galaxy merging in clusters of galaxies. We present results for two types of…
Understanding the star-formation properties of galaxies as a function of cosmic epoch is a critical exercise in studies of galaxy evolution. Traditionally, stellar population synthesis models have been used to obtain best fit parameters…
Galaxy mergers are crucial for understanding galaxy evolution, and with large upcoming datasets, automated methods such as Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) are essential for efficient detection. It is understood that CNNs classify…
Galaxy mergers can change the rate at which stars are formed. We can trace when these changes occur in simulations of galaxy mergers. However, for observed galaxies we do not know how the star formation rate (SFR) evolves along the merger…
In order to investigate the effects of galaxy mergers throughout the interaction sequence, we present a study of 10,800 galaxies in close pairs and a smaller sample of 97 post-mergers identified in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. We find that…
Being able to distinguish between galaxies that have recently undergone major merger events, or are experiencing intense star formation, is crucial for making progress in our understanding of the formation and evolution of galaxies. As…
We explore the galaxy-galaxy merger rate with the empirical model for galaxy formation, Emerge. On average, we find that between $2$ per cent and $20$ per cent of massive galaxies ($\log_{10}(m_{*}/M_{\odot}) \geq 10.3$) will experience a…
Galaxy mergers play a crucial role in shaping the morphology, the star formation, and the mass growth of galaxies across cosmic time. While mergers have been extensively investigated in the local Universe, the evolution of their frequency…
The mapping between dark matter halo mass, galaxy stellar mass, and galaxy cold gas mass is not a simple linear relation, but is influenced by a wide array of galaxy formation processes. We implement observationally-normalized relations…
We use N-body cosmological simulations and empirical galaxy models to study the merger history of dwarf-mass galaxies (with M_halo~10^10 M_Sun). Our input galaxy models describe the stellar mass-halo mass relation, and the galaxy occupation…
Fine-grained estimation of galaxy merger stages from observations is a key problem useful for validation of our current theoretical understanding of galaxy formation. To this end, we demonstrate a CNN-based regression model that is able to…
(abridged) This thesis presents theoretical and statistical techniques broadly related to systems of dynamically-interacting particles composed of several different types of populations. They are applied to observations of dense star…