Related papers: Galaxy Formation and the Cosmological Angular Mome…
Cosmological simulations predict that during the evolution of galaxies, the specific star formation rate continuously decreases. In a previous study we showed that generally this is not caused by the galaxies running out of cold gas but…
In its first part, this paper summarizes recent work on the mass and shape of the Galactic dark halo. The second part presents a review of the large-scale structure of the Milky Way, and of the evidence that the inner Galaxy is dominated by…
(Abridged) The violent hierarchical nature of the LCDM cosmology poses serious difficulties for the formation of disk galaxies. To help resolve these issues, we describe a new, merger-driven scenario for the cosmological formation of disk…
We examine the effect of preheating of the intergalactic medium on galaxy formation using cosmological hydrodynamical simulations. By performing simulations both with and without a simple model for preheating, we analyse and compare the…
We review current understanding of star formation, outlining an overall theoretical framework and the observations that motivate it. A conception of star formation has emerged in which turbulence plays a dual role, both creating…
In the standard model of structure formation, galaxies form in the centre of dark matter haloes that develop as a result of inhomogeneities in the primordial mass distribution of the Universe. Afterwards, galaxies grow by means of…
(Abridged) Cosmology faces three distinct challenges in the next decade. (1) The dark sector, both dark matter and dark energy, dominates the Universe. Key questions include determining the nature of both. Improved observational probes are…
Stars in galaxies form from the cold rotationally supported gaseous disks that settle at the center of dark matter halos. In the simplest models, such angular momentum is acquired early on at the time of collapse of the halo and preserved…
Correlations between stellar kinematics and chemical abundances are fossil evidence for evolutionary connections between Galactic structural components. Extensive stellar surveys show that the only tolerably clear distinction between…
Evolution of galaxies is one of the most actual topics in astrophysics. Among the most important factors determining the evolution are two galactic components which are difficult or even impossible to detect optically: the gaseous disks and…
We analyze predictions from two independently developed galaxy formation models to study the mechanisms, environments, and characteristic times of bulge formation in a LambdaCDM cosmogony. For each model, we test different prescriptions for…
Rotation plays a key role in the star-formation process, from pre-stellar cores to pre-main-sequence (PMS) objects. Understanding the formation of massive stars requires taking into account the accretion of angular momentum during their PMS…
The infall of a satellite galaxy onto a galactic disk generally brings in angular momentum that is not aligned with the axis of the disk. The main dynamical issues addressed are what fraction of the orbital angular momentum of the satellite…
In star formation, magnetic fields act as a cosmic angular momentum extractor that increases mass accretion rates onto protostars and in the process, creates spectacular outflows. However, recently it has been argued that this magnetic…
The gas needed to sustain star formation in galaxies is supplied by the circumgalactic medium (CGM), which in turn is affected by accretion from large scales. In a series of two papers, we examine the interplay between a galaxy's ambient…
Star forming molecular clouds are observed to be both highly magnetized and turbulent. Consequently the formation of protostellar disks is largely dependent on the complex interaction between gravity, magnetic fields, and turbulence.…
The effect of the global rotation of the universe on the formation of galaxies is investigated. It is found that the global rotation provides a natural origin for the rotation of galaxies, and the morphology of the objects formed from…
We study the effect of angular momentum on the surface density profiles of disc galaxies, using high resolution simulations of major mergers whose remnants have downbending radial density profiles (type II). As described in the previous…
We present the new semi-analytic model of galaxy evolution, DARK SAGE, a heavily modified version of the publicly available SAGE code. The model is designed for detailed evolution of galactic discs. We evolve discs in a series of annuli…
The currently discussed theories of bulge formation are reviewed, including the primordial scenario, where bulges form rapidly and then accrete disks, the secular scenario, where bulges are formed by dynamical evolution of disks through…