Related papers: A simple model for the size-evolution of elliptica…
The standard picture holds that giant elliptical galaxies formed in a single burst at high redshift. Aging of their stellar populations subsequently caused them to fade and become redder. The Canada-France Redshift Survey provides a sample…
There exists a gradual, but persistent, evolutionary effect in the galaxy population such that galaxy structure and morphology change with redshift. This galaxy structure-redshift relationship is such that an increasingly large fraction of…
We determine the evolution of the co-moving density of the most massive ($M_* \geq 10^{12} M_\odot$) early-type galaxy population in the redshift range of $z = 0.15$ - 0.45 in different stellar mass ranges using data from the Sloan Digital…
The mass assembly of galaxies can proceed through different physical processes. Here we report on the spectroscopic identification of close physical pairs of galaxies at redshifts 2 <z < 4 and discuss the impact of major mergers in shaping…
Elliptical galaxies are the main contributors to the chemical enrichment of the intracluster and intergalactic medium; understanding how they form and evolve enables us to get important hints on the amounts of energy and processed matter…
Based on magnitudes and Petrosian radii from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS, data release 7) at low redhift (z <0.2), we developed a test of galaxy-size evolution. For this first quantitative size analysis using SDSS data, several…
The current understanding of galaxy formation is that it proceeds in a 'bottom up' way, with the formation of small clumps of gas and stars that merge hierarchically until giant galaxies are built up. The baryonic gas loses the thermal…
In order to constrain parameters in galaxy formation theories, especially those for a star formation process, we investigate cold gas in elliptical galaxies. We calculate the detection rate of cold gas in them using a semi-analytic model of…
We explore the evolution of the stellar mass-size relation of galaxies of different morphological types and specifically bulge and disk components. We use a sample of $\sim35,000$ galaxies within a redshift range $0 < z < 1$, and stellar…
Three billion years after the big bang (at redshift z=2), half of the most massive galaxies were already old, quiescent systems with little to no residual star formation and extremely compact with stellar mass densities at least an order of…
With the aid of a simple yet robust approach we investigate the influence of dissipationless and dissipative merging on galaxy structure, and the consequent effects on the scaling laws followed by elliptical galaxies. Our results suggest…
Explaining the formation and evolution of galaxies is one of the most challenging problems in observational cosmology. Many observations suggest that galaxies we see today could have evolved from the merging of smaller subsystems. Evolution…
We derive the mass-metallicity relation of star-forming galaxies up to $z\sim0.9$, using data from the VIMOS VLT Deep Survey. Automatic measurement of emission-line fluxes and equivalent widths have been performed on the full spectroscopic…
We extend our previous work focused at $z\sim0$, studying the redshift evolution of galaxy dynamical properties using the state-of-the-art semi-analytic model GAEA: we show that the predicted size-mass relation for disky/star forming and…
Massive quiescent galaxies have much smaller physical sizes at high redshift than today. The strong evolution of galaxy size may be caused by progenitor bias, major and minor mergers, adiabatic expansion, and/or renewed star formation, but…
Observations consistently show that elliptical galaxies follow a tight "fundamental plane" scaling relation between size, mean surface brightness and velocity dispersion, with the form $R \propto \sigma^{a}\mu^{b}$. This relation not only…
The ellipticities and alignments of clusters of galaxies, and their evolution with redshift, are examined in the context of a Lambda-dominated cold dark matter cosmology. We use a large-scale, high-resolution N-body simulation to model the…
Beginning with a simple model for the growth of structure, I consider the dissipationless evolution of a MOND-dominated region in an expanding Universe by means of a spherically symmetric N-body code. I demonstrate that the final virialized…
Galaxies can be classified in two broad sequences which are likely to reflect their formation mechanism. The `main sequence', consisting of spirals, irregulars and all dwarf galaxies, is probably produced by gas settling within dark matter…
The population of compact massive galaxies observed at z > 1 are hypothesised, both observationally and in simulations, to be merger remnants of gas-rich disc galaxies. To probe such a scenario we analyse a sample of 12 gas-rich and active…