Related papers: Binary Aggregations in Hierarchical Galaxy Formati…
Any realistic theory of galaxy formation must be set in the context of a model for the formation of structure in the universe. We describe a powerful approach -- semi-analytic modelling -- that combines a set of simple rules describing the…
Measurements of the low-z Halpha luminosity function have a large dispersion in the local number density of sources, and correspondingly in the SFR density. The possible causes for these discrepancies include limited volume sampling, biases…
The evolution of the galaxy stellar mass function is especially useful to test the current model of galaxy formation. Observational data have revealed a few inconsistencies with predictions from the $\Lambda {\rm CDM}$ model. For example,…
Investigating the assembly history of the most massive and passive galaxies will enhance our understanding of why galaxies exhibit such a remarkable diversity in structure and morphology. In this paper, we simultaneously investigate the…
Recent observations of the Lyman-break galaxy (LBG) luminosity function (LF) from z~6-10 show a steep decline in abundance with increasing redshift. However, the LF is a convolution of the mass function of dark matter halos (HMF)--which…
We investigate the evolution of Brightest Cluster Galaxies (BCGs) from redshift z~1.6 to z~0. We use the semi-analytic model of Croton et al. (2006) with a new spectro-photometric model based on the Maraston (2005) stellar populations and a…
The new Wide Field Camera 3/IR observations on the Hubble Ultra-Deep Field started investigating the properties of galaxies during the reionization epoch. To interpret these observations, we present a novel approach inspired by the…
We have developed a new semi-analytic model for the formation and evolution of structure on galaxy, group and cluster scales. The model combines merger trees with a detailed, spatially resolved description of the dynamical evolution of halo…
We measure the redshift-dependent luminosity function and the comoving radial density of galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 1 (SDSS DR1). Both measurements indicate that the apparent number density of bright galaxies…
We explore the nature of the evolution of faint field galaxies by assuming that the local luminosity function is not well defined. We use a non-negative least squares technique to derive a near optimal set of local luminosity functions for…
We examine the evolution of assembly bias using a semi-analytical model of galaxy formation implemented in the Millennium-WMAP7 N-body simulation. We consider fixed number density galaxy samples ranked by stellar mass or star formation…
We introduce a simple analytic model of galaxy formation that links the growth of dark matter haloes in a cosmological background to the build-up of stellar mass within them. The model aims to identify the physical processes that drive the…
We present an analysis of the small-to-intermediate scale clustering of samples of Luminous Red Galaxies (LRGs) from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and the 2dF-SDSS LRG and QSO (2SLAQ) survey carefully matched to have the same rest-frame…
We investigate in detail the hypothesis that low surface brightness galaxies (LSB) differ from ordinary galaxies simply because they form in halos with large spin parameters. We compute star formation rates using the Schmidt law, assuming…
We study the luminosity function and the radial distribution of satellite galaxies within Milky Way sized haloes as predicted in Cold Dark Matter based models of galaxy formation, making use of numerical N-body techniques as well as three…
We revisit the Milky Way satellite problem using a semi-analytical model of galaxy formation and compare the predicted luminosity function to recent result from the SDSS. With cosmic photoionization, the luminosity function can be brought…
Galaxies grow primarily via accretion-driven star formation in discs and merger-driven growth of bulges. These processes are implicit in semi-analytical models of galaxy formation, with bulge growth in particular relating directly to the…
We present a comparison between the observed galaxy stellar mass function and the one predicted from the De Lucia & Blaizot (2007) semi-analytic model applied to the Millennium Simulation, for cluster satellites and galaxies in the field…
We present a new model to describe the galaxy-dark matter connection across cosmic time, which unlike the popular subhalo abundance matching technique is self-consistent in that it takes account of the facts that (i) subhalos are accreted…
(Abridged) We present a simple framework for the growth and evolution of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) in the hierarchical structure formation paradigm. In our model, black hole accretion is triggered during major mergers (mass…