Related papers: Resequencing the Hubble sequence and the quadratic…
The physical mechanisms and timescales that determine the morphological signatures and the quenching of star formation of typical (~L*) elliptical galaxies are not well understood. To address this issue, we have simulated the formation of a…
In a recent series of papers, supermassive black holes were used to discern pathways in galaxy evolution. By considering the black holes' coupling with their host galaxy's bulge/spheroid, the progression of mass within each component has…
We present a model for the broad morphological distinction between the disk and spheroidal components of galaxies. Elaborating on the hierarchical clustering scheme of galaxy formation proposed by Cole et al., we assume that galaxies form…
The optical morphology of galaxies is strongly related to galactic environment, with the fraction of early-type galaxies increasing with local galaxy density. In this work we present the first analysis of the galaxy morphology-density…
Most elliptical galaxies contain central black holes, whose masses scale proportionally to the observed central velocity dispersions of the host galaxies according to the so-called Mbh-sigma relation. Here we discuss some consequences that…
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…
This is the summary chapter of a review book on galaxy bulges. Bulge properties and formation histories are more varied than those of ellipticals. I emphasize two advances: 1 - "Classical bulges" are observationally indistinguishable from…
Galaxies with Milky Way-like stellar masses have a wide range of bulge and black hole masses; in turn, these correlate with other properties such as star formation history. While many processes may drive bulge formation, major and minor…
A brief overview of the properties of massive star clusters in early-type galaxies is given. All ellipticals (with only one known exception) host massive star clusters in the form of globular clusters, suggesting that their formation is…
We present revised (black hole mass)-(spheroid stellar mass) and (black hole mass)-(galaxy stellar mass) scaling relations based on colour-dependent stellar mass-to-light ratios. Our 3.6 micron luminosities were obtained from multicomponent…
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 formation of elliptical galaxies as a result of the merging of spiral galaxies is discussed. We analyse a large set of numerical N-Body merger simulations which show that major mergers can in principle explain the observed isophotal…
The way galaxies assemble their mass to form the well-defined Hubble sequence is amongst the most debated topic in modern cosmology. One difficulty is to link distant galaxies to those at present epoch. We aim at establishing how were the…
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…
In models of galaxy formation in a hierarchical Universe, elliptical galaxies form through the merging of smaller disk systems. These models yield a number of testable predictions if reliable techniques for determining the relative ages and…
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…
The correlation between black hole mass and the stellar mass of the bulge of the host galaxy has attracted much attention ever since its discovery. While traditional investigations of this correlation have treated elliptical galaxies as…
Supermassive black holes have been discovered at the centers of galaxies, and also in globular clusters. The data shows correlations between the black hole mass and the elliptical galaxy mass or globular cluster mass. It is shown that this…
It is now a well established fact that galaxies undergo significant morphological transformation during their lifetimes, manifesting as an evolution along the Hubble sequence from the late to the early Hubble types. The physical processes…
We have investigated some statistical properties of integrated spectra of galaxies with principal component analysis. The projection of the spectra onto the plane defined by the first two principal components shows that normal galaxies are…