Related papers: A robust two-parameter description of the stellar …
Massive early-type galaxies have undergone dramatic structural evolution over the last 10 Gyr. A companion paper shows that nearby elliptical galaxies with M*>1.3x10^{11} M_sun generically contain three photometric subcomponents: a compact…
We carry out a systematic investigation of the total mass density profile of massive (Mstar>2e11 Msun) early-type galaxies and its dependence on galactic properties and host halo mass with the aid of a variety of lensing/dynamical data and…
In this paper we compare two different diagnostics for estimating stellar masses in early-type galaxies and we establish their level of reliability. In particular, we consider the well-studied sample of 15 field elliptical galaxies selected…
We use high-resolution Herschel-PACS data of 2 nearby elliptical galaxies, IC1459 & NGC2768 to characterize their dust and stellar content. IC1459 & NGC2768 have an unusually large amount of dust for elliptical galaxies (1-3 x 10^5 Msun),…
Galaxy evolution can be studied observationally by linking progenitor and descendant galaxies through an evolving cumulative number density selection. This procedure can reproduce the expected evolution of the median stellar mass from…
In this work we study the shape of the projected surface mass density distribution of galaxy clusters using weak-lensing stacking techniques. In particular, we constrain the average aligned component of the projected ellipticity,…
The rotation curve, the total mass and the gravitational potential of the Galaxy are sensitive measurements of the dark matter halo profile. In this publication cuspy and cored DM halo profiles are analysed with respect to recent…
Observations consistently show that elliptical galaxies follow a tight "fundamental plane" scaling relation between size, mean surface brightness and velocity dispersion, with the form $R \propto \sigma^{a}\mu^{b}$. This relation not only…
We have compiled a sample of 2728 nearby ($z<0.08$) elliptical galaxies with photometry in the $g,r,i,z$ bands from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and $J,H,K$ photometry from the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS). Stellar masses,…
A review of the present observational and theoretical status of elliptical galaxies is presented with the aim to clarify whether the monolithic or the hierarchical, is a more viable scenario for the origin of these structures. We describe…
A major problem in extragalactic astronomy is the inability to distinguish in a robust, physical, and model independent way how galaxy populations are related to each other and to their formation histories. A similar, but distinct, and also…
We have selected 42 elliptical galaxies from the literature and estimated their velocity dispersions at the effective radius ($\sigma_{\re}$) and at 0.54 effective radii ($\vff$). We find by a dynamical analysis that the normalized velocity…
Prompted by a new catalogue of M31 globular clusters, we have collected together individual metallicity values for globular clusters in the Local Group. Although we briefly describe the globular cluster systems of the individual Local Group…
We predict the properties of stellar halos in galaxies of present-day virial mass $10^8 < M_{200} < 10^{12} {\rm M_\odot}$ by combining the GALFORM semi-analytic model of galaxy formation, the COCO cosmological N-body simulation, and the…
The outskirts of galaxies have been studied from multiple perspectives for the past few decades. However, it is still unknown if all galaxies have clear-cut edges like everyday objects. We address this question by developing physically…
A model is developed for an idealised spherical galaxy evolving from a uniform mass distribution at the epoch of galactic separation until attaining an equilibrium state through gravitational collapse. The final theoretical radial surface…
High resolution spectra data of red clump stars towards the NGP have been obtained with the high resolution spectrograph Elodie at OHP for Tycho-2 selected stars. Combined with Hipparcos local analogues, we determine both the gravitational…
We compare the performance of mass estimators for elliptical galaxies that rely on the directly observable surface brightness and velocity dispersion profiles, without invoking computationally expensive detailed modeling. These methods…
The combination of strong gravitational lensing and stellar kinematics provides a powerful and robust method to investigate the mass and dynamical structure of early-type galaxies. We demonstrate this approach by analysing two massive…
The Hypervelocity Star survey presents the currently largest sample of radial velocity measurements of halo stars out to 80 kpc. We apply spherical Jeans modeling to these data in order to derive the mass profile of the Galaxy. We restrict…