Related papers: Distant early-type galaxies: tracers of the galaxy…
Using a sample of ~28,000 sources selected at 3.6-4.5 microns with Spitzer observations of the HDF-N, the CDF-S, and the Lockman Hole (surveyed area: ~664 arcmin^2), we study the evolution of the stellar mass content of the Universe at…
Any realistic theory of galaxy formation must be set in the context of a model for the formation of structure in the universe. We describe a powerful approach -- semi-analytic modelling -- that combines a set of simple rules describing the…
We present an overview of observational progress in the study of extragalactic globular cluster systems. Globular clusters turn out to be excellent tracers not only for the star-formation histories in galaxies, but also for kinematics at…
The transformations taking place in late-type galaxies in the environment of rich clusters of galaxies at z=0 are reviewed. From the handful of late-type galaxies that inhabit local clusters, whether they were formed in-situ and survived as…
Galaxy evolution is driven by many complex interrelated processes as galaxies accrete gas, form new stars, grow their stellar masses and central black holes, and subsequently quench. The processes that drive these transformations is poorly…
The deepest multi-wavelength surveys now provide measurements of star formation in galaxies out to z>1, and allow to reconstruct its history for large parts of the galaxy population. I review recent studies, which have consistently revealed…
The growth of galaxies is a key problem in understanding the structure and evolution of the universe. Galaxies grow their stellar mass by a combination of star formation and mergers, with a relative importance that is redshift dependent.…
Advances in extragalactic astronomy have prompted the development of increasingly realistic models which aim to describe the formation and evolution of galaxies. We review the philosophy behind one such technique, called semi-analytic…
Galaxy formation is at the heart of our understanding of cosmic evolution. Although there is a consensus that galaxies emerged from the expanding matter background by gravitational instability of primordial fluctuations, a number of…
We characterize the mass-dependent evolution in a large sample of more than 8,000 galaxies using spectroscopic redshifts drawn from the DEEP2 Galaxy Redshift Survey in the range 0.4 < z < 1.4 and stellar masses calculated from K-band…
Studies of the molecular interstellar medium that fuels star formation and supermassive black hole growth in galaxies at cosmological distances have undergone tremendous progress over the past few years. Based on the detection of molecular…
We present the Fundamental Plane (FP) of early-type galaxies in the clusters of galaxies RXJ1415.1+3612 at z=1.013. This is the first detailed FP investigation of cluster early-type galaxies at redshift z=1. The distant cluster galaxies…
[abridged] Massive, passively evolving galaxies at redshifts z>1 exhibit on the average physical sizes smaller by factors ~3 than local early type galaxies (ETGs) endowed with the same stellar mass. Small sizes are in fact expected on…
Near-infrared surveys provide one of the best opportunities to investigate the cosmic evolution of galaxies and their mass assembly. We briefly review the main results obtained so far with the K20 and other recent near-IR surveys on the…
It is an obvious statement that all the galaxies we see today in and around our Local Group have been forming and evolving for a significant fraction of the age of the Universe. It is not a great leap of logic to further state that the…
Investigating the assembly history of the most massive and passive galaxies will enhance our understanding of why galaxies exhibit such a remarkable diversity in structure and morphology. In this paper, we simultaneously investigate the…
Properties of nearby dwarf galaxies are briefly discussed. Dwarf galaxies vary widely in their star formation histories, the ages of their subpopulations, and in their enrichment history. Furthermore, many dwarf galaxies show evidence for…
Many of the early-type galaxies observed so far at z>1 turned out to have smaller radii with respect to that of a typical present-day early-type galaxy with comparable mass. This has generated the conviction that in the past early-type…
We present the results of a Hubble Space Telescope and ground-based optical and near-infrared study to identify progenitors of spirals and ellipticals at z > 1. We identify these systems through photometric and spectroscopic redshifts, deep…
In these proceedings, we summarize recent results from our "SINS" VLT/SINFONI integral-field survey, focusing on the 52 detected UV/optically-selected star-forming galaxies at z~2. Our H-alpha emission-line imaging and kinematic data of…