Related papers: Surface density profiles of collisionless disc mer…
There are strong correlations between the three structural properties of elliptical galaxies -- stellar mass, velocity dispersion and size -- in the form of a tight "fundamental plane" and a "scaling relation" between each pair. Major…
We have used deep, HST, near-IR imaging to study the morphological properties of the most massive galaxies at high z, modelling the WFC3/IR H-band images of the ~200 galaxies in the CANDELS-UDS field with 1 < z_phot < 3, and stellar masses…
Mergers in the local universe present a unique opportunity for studying the transformations of galaxies in detail. Presented here are recent results, based on multi-wavelength, high-resolution imaging and medium resolution spectroscopy,…
We present stellar mass surface density profiles of a mass-selected sample of 177 galaxies at 0.5 < z < 2.5, obtained using very deep HST optical and near-infrared data over the GOODS-South field, including recent CANDELS data. Accurate…
Using high-resolution N-body simulations, we examine whether a major dry merger mitigates the difference in the radial density distributions between red and blue globular clusters (GCs). To this end, we study the relation between the…
(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 present a complete structural analysis of the ellipticals (E), diffuse bulges (dB), compact bulges (cB), and disks (D) within a redshift range $0 < z < 1$, and stellar mass $\log_{10}(\mathrm{M}_*/\mathrm{M}_\odot) \geq 9.5$…
N-body simulations of major spiral-spiral mergers with different mass ratios q <= 4:1 are presented. All mergers lead to spheroidal stellar systems with de Vaucouleurs-like surface density profiles, resembling elliptical galaxies. The…
We present a study of galaxy mergers and the influence of environment in the Abell 901/902 supercluster at z~0.165. We use HST ACS F606W data from the STAGES survey, COMBO-17, Spitzer 24um, and XMM-Newton X-ray data. Our analysis utilizes…
Disk galaxies are common in our universe and this is a source of concern for hierarchical formation models like LCDM. Here we investigate this issue as motivated by raw merger statistics derived for galaxy-size dark matter halos from LCDM…
We analyse the properties of a sample of 22 bright isolated spiral galaxies on the basis of Johnson B,V,I images and optical rotation curves. The fraction of early morphological types in our sample of isolated galaxies (or in other samples…
The projected kinematical properties of unequal-mass merger remnants of disk galaxies are analysed and shown to agree well with observations of disky, fast rotating elliptical galaxies. This supports the major merger hypothesis of…
We have produced $3.6\mu{\rm m}+4.5\mu{\rm m}$ vertically integrated radial luminosity profiles of 69 edge-on galaxies from the Spitzer Survey of Stellar Structure in Galaxies (S$^4$G). We decomposed the luminosity profiles into a disc and…
We use the marginal stability condition for galactic disks and the stellar velocity dispersion data published by different authors to place upper limits on the disk local surface density at two radial scalelengths $R=2h$. Extrapolating…
We explore possible correlations between light profile shapes, as parameterized by the Sersic index or the concentration index C_re(1/3), and relevant stellar population parameters in early-type galaxies. Mean luminosity weighted ages,…
Characterizing and accurately decomposing galaxies into structural components, such as bulges and disks, is essential for understanding galaxy formation and evolution, particularly at high redshift, where galaxies are compact and faint.…
Multiple, sequential mergers are unavoidable in the hierarchical build-up picture of galaxies, in particular for the minor mergers that are frequent and highly likely to have occured several times for most present-day galaxies. However, the…
We study seven simulated disc galaxies, three with a quiescent merger history, and four with mergers in their last 9 Gyr of evolution. We compare their structure at z=0 by decomposing them into "mono-age populations" (MAPs) of stars within…
[ABRIDGED] We study supermassive black hole binary mergers driven by angular momentum loss to small-scale gas discs. Such binaries form after major galaxy mergers, but their fate is unclear since hardening through stellar scattering becomes…
We have shown the outcome of N-body simulations of the interactions of two disc galaxies without gas with the same mass. Both disc galaxies have halos of dark matter, central bulges and initial supermassive black hole (SMBH) seeds at their…