Related papers: The Morphological Evolution of Merger Remnants
We test the hypothesis that elliptical galaxies are formed by violent mergers in a universe with hierarchical structure formation. Within the framework of a semi-analytic scheme for galaxy formation, we predict the distribution of…
We perform a large parameter survey of 112 collisionless N-body simulations of binary mergers of disk-galaxies with mass ratios of 1:1, 2:1, 3:1, and 4:1 using the special purpose hardware GRAPE. The basic properties of the remnants…
After the discovery that supermassive black holes (SMBHs) are ubiquitous at the center of stellar spheroids and that their mass Mbh, in the range 10^6-10^9 Msun, is tightly related to global properties of the host stellar system, the idea…
With projects such as Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) and Pulsar Timing Arrays expected to detect gravitational waves from supermassive black hole mergers in the near future, it is key that we understand what we expect those…
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…
We investigate, by means of numerical simulations, the possibility of forming counter-rotating old stellar components by major mergers between an elliptical and a spiral galaxy. We show that counter-rotation can appear both in dissipative…
We use numerical simulations to study the evolution of triaxial elliptical galaxies with central black holes. In contrast to earlier numerical studies which used galaxy models with central density ``cores,'' our galaxies have steep central…
Stellar archeology shows that massive elliptical galaxies today formed rapidly about ten billion years ago with star formation rates above several hundreds solar masses per year (M_sun/yr). Their progenitors are likely the…
Through the analysis of a set of numerical simulations of major mergers between initially non-rotating, pressure supported progenitor galaxies with a range of central mass concentrations, we have shown that: (1) it is possible to generate…
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…
Dynamical modeling and strong lensing data indicate that the total density profiles of early-type galaxies are close to isothermal, i.e., rho_tot ~ r^gamma with gamma approx -2. To understand the origin of this universal slope we study a…
The discovery of a population of massive, compact and quiescent early-type galaxies has changed the view on plausible formation scenarios for the present day population of elliptical galaxies. Traditionally assumed formation histories…
We report here on a survey of N-body simulations of encounters between spherical galaxies. Initial systems are isotropic Jaffe models. Different sets of mass ratios, impact parameters and orbital energies are studied. Both merger remnants…
Bulges and disks are major structural components that define galaxy morphology. The mass ratios of bulges and disks increase statistically with the galaxy mass, with the high-mass end occupied by elliptical galaxies. Although previous…
Recent observations of globular clusters in intermediate-age (2-4 Gyr old) merger remnants have provided the hitherto `missing link' between between young merger remnants and normal elliptical galaxies. The luminosity functions (LFs) 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…
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…
Deep exposure imaging of early-type galaxies (ETGs) are revealing the second-order complexity of these objects, which have been long considered uniform, dispersion-supported spheroidals. "Fine structure" features (e.g. ripples, plumes,…
The overabundance of Mg relative to Fe, observed in the nuclei of bright ellipticals, and its increase with galactic mass, poses a serious problem for all current models of galaxy formation. Here we improve on the one-zone chemical…
Most giant spiral galaxies have pseudo or disk-like bulges that are considered to be the result of purely secular processes. This may challenge the hierarchical scenario predicting about one major merger per massive galaxy ($>$$3\times…