Related papers: QSOs and Spheroidal Galaxies
We show that the ABC scenario we proposed for the co-evolution of spheroids and QSOs predicts accretion rates and masses of supermassive black holes in sub-mm galaxies in keeping with recent X-ray determinations. These masses are well below…
Supermassive black holes (SMBHs) are nowadays believed to reside in most local galaxies, and the available data show an empirical correlation between bulge luminosity - or stellar velocity dispersion - and black hole mass, suggesting a…
The fundamental manifold (FM), an extension of the fundamental plane formalism, incorporates all spheroid-dominated stellar systems from dwarf ellipticals up to the intracluster stellar populations of galaxy clusters by accounting for the…
The S\'ersic $R^{1/n}$ model is the best approximation known to date for describing the light distribution of stellar spheroidal and disk components, with the S\'ersic index $n$ providing a direct measure of the central radial concentration…
The genesis of spheroids is central to our understanding of galaxy formation -- they are relatively simple systems, containing about half the stellar mass of the Universe. A major subset of spheroids, massive elliptical galaxies, are…
Scaling relations between supermassive black hole mass, M_BH, and host galaxy properties are a powerful instrument for studying their coevolution. A complete picture involving all of the black hole scaling relations, in which each relation…
(Abridged) We develop a model for the cosmological role of mergers in the evolution of starbursts, quasars, and spheroidal galaxies. Combining halo mass functions (MFs) with empirical halo occupation models, we calculate where major…
We re-examine the assembly history of field spheroidals as a potentially powerful discriminant of galaxy formation models. Whereas monolithic collapse and hierarchical, merger-driven, models suggest radically different histories for these…
In an effort to secure, refine and supplement the relation between central Supermassive Black Hole masses (Mbh), and the bulge luminosities of their host galaxies, (Lbul), we obtained deep, high spatial resolution K-band images of 35 nearby…
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…
At variance with most semi-analytic models, in the Anti-hierarchical Baryon Collapse scenario (Granato et al. 2001, 2004) the main driver of the galaxy formation and evolution is not the merging sequence but are baryon processes. This…
I review the status of observational determinations of central masses in nearby galactic nuclei. Results from a variety of techniques are summarized, including ground-based and space-based optical spectroscopy, radio VLBI measurements of…
We have examined the relationship between supermassive black hole mass (M$_{BH}$) and the stellar mass of the host spheroid (M$_{sph,*}$) for a sample of 75 nearby galaxies. To derive the spheroid stellar masses we used improved 2MASS…
We construct mass models of Milky Way dwarf spheroidal galaxies to place constraints on the central black hole (BH) masses they can host. We model the galaxies as a three-component system consisting of the stars, dark matter halo, and a…
Updating Kormendy & Kennicutt (2004, ARAA, 42, 603), we review internal secular evolution of galaxy disks. One consequence is the growth of pseudobulges that often are mistaken for true (merger-built) bulges. Many pseudobulges are…
We discuss the constraints set on galaxy evolution by data from deep surveys performed in the mid-IR and far-IR with ISO and with mm telescopes at longer wavelengths. These reveal extremely high rates of evolution for IR galaxies. According…
We compare the properties of local spiral galaxies with the predictions of the Cole et al. semi-analytic model of hierarchical galaxy formation, in order to gain insight into the baryonic processes that were responsible for shaping these…
The tight correlation between the masses of central black holes and their host spheroids in nearby galaxies and active galactic nuclei suggests that black hole growth is closely related to their spheroid formation. Based on our previous…
We investigate the ability of hierarchical models of QSO formation and evolution to match the observed luminosity, number counts and spatial clustering of quasars at redshift z<2. These models assume that the QSO emission is triggered by…
The intensity of the Cosmic Far-IR Background and the strong evolution of galaxies in the far-IR to mm wavelength range demonstrate that the bulk of starlight emitted during the early phases of galaxy evolution was reprocessed by dust.…