Related papers: Observing Massive Galaxy Formation
Theoretical models are vital for exploring the galaxy merger process, which plays a crucial role in the evolution of galaxies. Recent advances in modelling have placed tight constraints on the buildup of stellar material in galaxies across…
We probe the evolution of globular clusters that could form in giant molecular clouds within high-redshift galaxies. Numerical simulations demonstrate that the large and dense enough gas clouds assemble naturally in current hierarchical…
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 present the results of a Hubble Space Telescope and ground-based optical and near-infrared study to identify progenitors of spirals and ellipticals at z > 1. We identify these systems through photometric and spectroscopic redshifts, deep…
We use a set of twelve high-resolution N-body/hydrodynamical simulations in the $\Lambda$CDM cosmology to investigate the origin and formation rate of fossil groups (FGs), which are X-ray bright galaxy groups dominated by a large elliptical…
Globular clusters provide a unique probe of galaxy formation and evolution. Here I briefly summarize the known observational properties of globular cluster systems. One re-occurring theme is that the globular cluster systems of spirals and…
The effects of late gas accretion episodes and subsequent merger-induced starbursts on the photo-chemical evolution of elliptical galaxies are studied and compared to the picture of galaxy formation occurring at high redshift with an unique…
Many recent observations and numerical simulations suggest that nearby massive, early-type galaxies were formed through a "two-phase" process. In the proposed second phase, the extended stellar envelope was accumulated through many dry…
Although fundamental for astrophysics, the processes that produce massive stars are not well understood. Large distances, high extinction, and short timescales of critical evolutionary phases make observations of these processes…
[abridged] We study the dependence of the galaxy size evolution on morphology, stellar mass and large scale environment for a sample of 298 group and 384 field quiescent early-type galaxies from the COSMOS survey, selected from z~1 to the…
(Abridged) Fossil systems are galaxy associations dominated by a relatively isolated, bright elliptical galaxy, surrounded by a group of smaller galaxies lacking L* objects. We analyzed the near-infrared photometric and structural…
Observations now probe the star formation history of the Universe back to a redshift of $z\sim5$. We investigate whether the predictions of semi-analytic models of galaxy formation based on hierarchical Cold Dark Matter (CDM) type models…
The discovery of proto-globular cluster candidates in many current-day mergers allows us to better understand the possible effects of a merger event on the globular cluster system of a galaxy, and to foresee the properties of 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…
We use semi-analytical modelling techniques to investigate the progenitor morphologies of present day ellipticals. We find that, independent of the environment, the fraction of mergers of bulge dominated galaxies (early-types) increases…
We investigate the origins of galaxy morphology (defined by bulge-to-total K-band luminosity) in the LambdaCDM cosmology using two galaxy formation models ,based on the Millennium simulation, by Bower et al. (the Durham model) and De Lucia…
Globular clusters (GCs) are among the oldest and most luminous stellar systems in the Universe, offering unique insights into galaxy formation and evolution. While the physical processes behind their origin have long remained elusive, major…
We explore the galaxy-galaxy merger rate with the empirical model for galaxy formation, Emerge. On average, we find that between $2$ per cent and $20$ per cent of massive galaxies ($\log_{10}(m_{*}/M_{\odot}) \geq 10.3$) will experience a…
We discuss a new method for inferring the stellar mass of a distant galaxy of known redshift based on the combination of a near-infrared luminosity and multi-band optical photometry. The typical uncertainty for field galaxies with I<22 in…
The structure of the universe is believed to have formed by clustering hierarchically from small to large scales. Much of this evolution occurs very slowly but at a few special times more, rapid, violent activity may occur as major subunits…