Related papers: Are violent events responsible of a Galaxy Morphol…
The observed morphological evolution since z ~ 0.5 within galaxy clusters provides evidence for a hierarchical universe. This evolution is driven by dynamical effects that operate within the cluster environment -- suppression of…
Stellar shells observed in many giant elliptical and lenticular as well as a few spiral and dwarf galaxies presumably result from radial minor mergers of galaxies. We show that the line-of-sight velocity distribution of the shells has a…
We discuss the evolution of a disc galaxy due to the formation of a bar and, subsequently, a peanut. After the formation stage there is still considerable evolution, albeit slower. In purely stellar cases the pattern speed of the bar…
We analyse N-body galaxy merger experiments involving disc galaxies. Mergers of disc-bulge-halo models are compared to those of bulge-less, disc-halo models to quantify the effects of the central bulge on the merger dynamics and on the…
The role of magnetic fields in galaxy evolution is still an unsolved question in astrophysics. We have previously shown that magnetic fields play a crucial role in major mergers between disc galaxies; in hydrodynamic simulations of such…
Bars play a major role in driving the evolution of disk galaxies and in shaping their present properties. They cause angular momentum to be redistributed within the galaxy, emitted mainly from (near-)resonant material at the inner Lindblad…
Disc galaxies can be substantially modified by close encounters and mergers, since their discs are very responsive components. Close interactions can be held responsible for the formation of bridges and tails, as well as for the formation…
We have undertaken a large set of simulations of galaxy interactions and mergers (GalMer Project) in order to study the physical processes related to galaxy encounters. All morphological types along the Hubble sequence are considered in the…
Based on the earlier work of Gunn and McCrea we model the formation of globular clusters in merging galaxies. Neutral hydrogen observations of dwarf irregular galaxies as well as more luminous systems are used to provide the key parameters…
Observations suggest that the structural parameters of disk galaxies have not changed greatly since redshift 1. We examine whether these observations are consistent with a cosmology in which structures form hierarchically. We use SPH/N-body…
We recently revealed that bulges and elliptical galaxies broadly define distinct, super-linear relations in the $M_{\rm bh}$-$M_{\rm *,sph}$ diagram, with the order-of-magnitude lower $M_{\rm bh}/M_{\rm *,sph}$ ratios in the elliptical…
Stellar mergers and common-envelope evolution are fast (dynamical-timescale) interactions in binary stars that drastically alter their evolution. They are key to understanding a plethora of astrophysical phenomena. Stellar mergers are…
By constructing a large, uniform galaxy cluster catalog from the SDSS data, we have found that cluster galaxies evolve both spectrally and morphologically. By studying the morphology--cluster-centric-radius relation, we have found two…
We numerically investigate stellar and gas dynamics in star-forming and dissipative galaxy mergers between two disk galaxies with specific orbital configurations. We find that violent relaxation combined with gaseous dissipation in galaxy…
Close examination of so-called "pseudobulges" in several early-type disk galaxies indicates that they are actually composite structures consisting of both a flattened, kinematically cool disklike structure ("disky pseudobulge") and a…
We use a suite of semi-empirical models to predict galaxy merger rates and contributions to bulge growth as functions of merger mass, redshift, and mass ratio. The models use empirical halo occupation constraints to identify mergers,…
Secular evolution is one of the key routes through which galaxies evolve along the Hubble sequence. Not only the disk undergoes morphological and kinematic changes, but also a preexisting classical bulge may be dynamically changed by the…
Galaxy flybys are as common as mergers in low redshift universe and are important for galaxy evolution as they involve the exchange of significant amounts of mass and energy. In this study we investigate the effect of minor flybys on the…
The secular evolution process, which slowly transforms the morphology of a galaxy over its lifetime, could naturally account for observed properties of the great majority of physical galaxies if both stellar and gaseous accretion processes…
Can the present dynamics of spiral galaxies tell us something about the merging history, the formation and evolution of disks? Galaxy interactions thicken or destroy disks; the simultaneous presence of thick and thin disks is a tracer of…