Related papers: Dual-component stellar assembly histories in local…
The aim of this paper is to cast light on the formation and evolution of elliptical galaxies by means of N-body/hydro-dynamical simulations that include star formation, feed-back and chemical evolution. Particular attention is paid to the…
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…
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…
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…
The last decade of research on elliptical galaxies has produced a wealth of new information concerning both their detailed structure and their global scaling relations. We review the old and new results about isophote shapes and…
We investigate the stellar composition of bulges and elliptical galaxies as predicted by the CDM paradigm using semi-analytical modelling. We argue that spheroid stars are built up of two main components, {\it merger} and {\it quiescent},…
Star-forming blue early-type galaxies at low redshift can give insight to the stellar mass growth of L$*$ elliptical galaxies in the local Universe. We wish to understand the reason for star formation in these otherwise passively evolving…
Elliptical galaxies are believed to consist of a single population of old stars formed together at an early epoch in the Universe, yet recent analyses of galaxy spectra seem to indicate the presence of significant younger populations of…
We consider the present-day photometric and chemical properties of elliptical galaxies, adopting the bimodal star formation scenario of Elbaz, Arnaud & Vangioni-Flam (1995). These models utilise an initial mass function (IMF) biased heavily…
Using 'spatially' resolved spectroscopy, we investigated the characteristics and different modes of formation of stars in elliptical galaxies. We identified an unusual population of 59 star-forming elliptical (SF-E) galaxies in SDSS-MaNGA,…
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,…
The structural properties of elliptical galaxies are consistent with their formation in a merging hierarchy. In this picture, the role of gaseous processes and dissipation decreased with increasing mass creating preferentially rotationally…
The formation and evolution of elliptical galaxies (EGs) is still an open question. In particular, recent observations suggest that elliptical galaxies are not only simple spheroidal systems of old stars. In this paper we analyze a sample…
We study the correlation between the morphological mix of cluster galaxies and the assembly history of the parent cluster by taking advantage of two independently developed semi-analytic models for galaxy formation and evolution. In our…
We take advantage of the largest high-resolution simulation of cosmic structure growth ever carried out -- the Millennium Simulation of the concordance LambdaCDM cosmogony -- to study how the star formation histories, ages and metallicities…
I will present recent theoretical results on the formation and the high redshift assembly of spheroids. These findings have been obtained by utilising different and complementary techniques: chemodynamical models offer great insight in the…
The current evidence about the age of stellar populations in elliptical galaxies is reviewed. The case for the bulk of stars in galactic spheroids (ellipticals and bulges) having formed at high redshift (z>~3) is now compelling, both for…
We investigate two-dimensional image decomposition of nearby, morphologically selected early-type galaxies (ETGs). We are motivated by recent observational evidence of significant size growth of quiescent galaxies and theoretical…
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…
[Abridged] We study the properties, evolution and formation mechanisms of isolated field elliptical galaxies. We create a mock catalogue of isolated field elliptical galaxies from the Millennium Simulation Galaxy Catalogue, and trace their…