Related papers: Secular Evolution of Spiral Galaxies
Traditionally, secular evolution is defined as evolution of systems where the internal growth of structure and instabilities dominates the growth via external drivers (e.g. accretion/mergers). Most study has focused on 'isolated' galaxies,…
Recent observational constraints restrict the strict applicability of stellar dynamics in spirals to a few rotation periods. However, stellar dynamics concepts such as periodic orbits are invaluable for understanding the various dynamical…
Galactic spheroids can form as a result of galaxy interactions and mergers of disks. Detailed analyses of the photometric properties, the intrinsic orbital structure, the line-of-sight velocity distributions and the kinemetry of simulated…
Masking the horizontal branch and giant stars allows unambiguous measurements of mean age and metallicity in simple old stellar populations from metal and hydrogen line strengths. Billion year resolution is possible in the luminous halos of…
The primary present-day observables upon which theories of galaxy evolution are based are a system's morphology, dynamics, colour, and chemistry. Individually, each provides an important constraint to any given model; in concert, the four…
A galaxy's orientation is one of its most basic observable properties. Astronomers once assumed that galaxies are randomly oriented in space, however it is now clear that some have preferred orientations with respect to their surroundings.…
This paper addresses the questions of what we have learned about how and when dense star clusters form, and what studies of star clusters have revealed about galaxy formation and evolution. One important observation is that globular…
The Hubble Deep Fields represent our best opportunity for probing galaxy evolution over a substantive look-back time. However as with any dataset the HDFs are prone to selection biases. These biases are extremely severe beyond z \~1.25 such…
Accumulation of new data on stellar hierarchical systems and the progress in numerical simulations of their formation open the door to genetic classification of these systems, where properties of a certain group (family) of objects are…
We analyse a sample of about 2000 galaxies in 40 regular clusters, to look for evidence of segregation with respect to galaxy luminosities and morphological types. We find evidence of luminosity segregation for galaxies brighter than $M_R <…
Classical bulges and stellar bars are common features in disk galaxies and serve as key tracers of galactic evolution. Angular momentum exchange at bar resonances drives secular morphological changes throughout the disk, including bar…
Globular clusters are collisional systems, meaning that the stars inside them interact on timescales much shorter than the age of the Universe. These frequent interactions transfer energy between stars and set up observable trends that tell…
It is a remarkable feature that various properties of galaxies vary according to their environments. However, only little has been known on the origin of this variety in galaxies. Using the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) data, we…
The measurement of chemical abundances in planetary nebulae in nearby galaxies is now relatively straightforward. The challenge is to use these chemical abundances to infer the chemical evolution of their host galaxies. At this point, our…
Recent work has suggested that the amplitude of the size mass relation of massive early type galaxies evolves with redshift. Here we use a semi-analytical galaxy formation model to study the size evolution of massive early type galaxies. We…
In a series of three papers, we introduced a novel cluster formation model that describes the formation, growth, and disruption of star clusters in high-resolution cosmological simulations. We tested this model on a Milky Way-sized galaxy…
In this review, I give a brief summary of galaxy evolution processes in hierarchical cosmologies and of their relative importance at different masses, times, and environments. I remind the reader of the processes that are commonly included…
The observable characteristics and subsequent evolution of young stellar populations is dominated by their massive stars. As our understanding of those massive stars and the factors affecting their evolution improves, so our interpretation…
Gas accretion is necessary to maintain star formation, spiral and bar structure, and secular evolution in galaxies. This can occur through tidal interaction, or mass accretion from cosmic filaments. Different processes will be reviewed to…
We present a study of the effects of mergers and interactions on the mass distribution of galactic systems in hierarchical clustering scenarios using the disc-bulge structural parameters and their dynamical properties to quantify them. We…