Related papers: Substructure and Tidal Debris in Local Galaxies: M…
We run numerical simulations of the disruption of satellite galaxies in a Galactic potential to build up the entire stellar halo, in order to investigate what the next generation of astrometric satellites will reveal by observing the halo…
When following the growth of structure in the Universe, we propose replacing merger trees with merger graphs, in which haloes can both merge and split into separate pieces. We show that this leads to smoother mass growth and eliminates…
Models for the formation and growth of structure in a cold dark matter dominated universe predict that galaxy halos should contain significant substructure. Studies of the Milky Way, however, have yet to identify the expected few hundred…
Theoretical considerations and observational data support the idea that mergers were more frequent in the past. At redshifts z = 2 to 5, violent interactions and mergers may be implicated by observations of Lyman-break galaxies, sub-mm…
Flattened and kinematically correlated planes of dwarf satellite galaxies have been observed in the Local Volume. The slinging out of satellites during host galaxy mergers has been suggested as a formation mechanism for these peculiar…
The cosmic web plays a major role in the formation and evolution of galaxies and defines, to a large extent, their properties. However, the relation between galaxies and environment is still not well understood. Here we present a machine…
Compact object mergers are one of the currently favored models for the origin of GRBs. The discovery of optical afterglows and identification of the nearest, presumably host, galaxies allows the analysis of the distribution of burst sites…
Semi-analytic models of galaxy formation typically form the spheroidal components of galaxies ("bulges"), solely through galactic major mergers. However, it is possible that non-merger events (e.g. a "fly-by" by a smaller halo) can perturb…
The stellar halo of the Milky Way records the history of its interactions with dwarf galaxies, whose subsequent destruction results in the formation of an extended stellar component. Recent works have suggested that galaxies with masses…
Near-field observations may provide tight constraints - i.e. "boundary conditions" - on any model of structure formation in the Universe. Detailed observational data have long been available for the Milky Way (e.g. Freeman $\&$…
Young star clusters in interacting galaxies are often found in groups or clusters of star clusters containing up to 100 single clusters. In our project we study the future fate of these clusters of star clusters. We find that the star…
The surroundings of globular clusters in the outer halo are one of the best places to look for the remnants of ancient dwarf satellites. The classical Searle & Zinn (1978) scenario of the formation of the Milky Way, in which the halo…
Galaxies are believed to be in one-to-one correspondence with simulated dark matter subhalos. We use high-resolution N-body simulations of cosmological volumes to calculate the statistical properties of subhalo (galaxy) major mergers at…
In numerous studies of the outer Galactic halo some evidence for accretion has been found. If the outer halo did form in part or wholly through merger events, we might expect to find coherent streams of stars and globular clusters following…
Like massive galaxies, dwarf galaxies are expected to undergo major mergers with other dwarfs. However, the end state of these mergers and the role that merging plays in regulating dwarf star formation is uncertain. Using imaging from the…
Recent years have seen a series of large-scale photometric surveys with the aim of detecting substructure in nearby dwarf galaxies. Some of these objects display a varying distribution of each stellar population, reflecting their star…
Hierarchical structure formation theory is based on the notion that mergers drive galaxy evolution, so a considerable framework of semi-analytic models and N-body simulations has been constructed to calculate how mergers transform a growing…
Recent observations have revealed streams of gas and stars in the halo of the Milky Way that are the debris from interactions between our Galaxy and some of its dwarf companion galaxies; the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy and the Magellanic…
Cosmological structure formation predicts that our galactic halo contains an enormous hierarchy of substructures and streams, the remnants of the merging hierarchy that began with tiny Earth mass microhalos. If these structures persist…
The debris from past merger events is expected and, to some extent, known to populate the stellar halo near the Sun. We aim to identify and characterise such merger debris using Gaia DR3 data supplemented by metallicity and chemical…