Related papers: On the Formation of Elliptical Galaxies
We analyze a sample of 23 supermassive elliptical galaxies (central velocity dispersion larger than 330 km s-1), drawn from the SDSS. For each object, we estimate the dynamical mass from the light profile and central velocity dispersion,…
The light profiles of elliptical (E) galaxies are known to display small systematic deviations (0.1-0.2 mag.) from the R^1/4 law. In this paper we show that the senses and amplitudes of these departures can be naturally accounted for by a…
We present the morphological analysis based on HST-NIC2 (0.075 arcsec/pixel) images in the F160W filter of a sample of 9 massive field (> 10^{11} M_\odot) galaxies spectroscopically classified as early-types at 1.2<z<1.7. Our analysis shows…
It has long been known that the radial density profiles of globular cluster systems (GCSs) in elliptical galaxies vary with the total luminosities of their host galaxies. In order to elucidate the origin of this structural non-homology in…
By means of high-resolution N-body simulations we revisited the dissipationless collapse scenario for galaxy formation. We considered both single-component collapses and collapses of a cold stellar distribution in a live dark matter halo.…
It is shown that the cuspy density distributions observed in the cores of elliptical galaxies can be realized by dissipationless gravitational collapse. The initial models consist of power-law density spheres such as $\rho\propto r^{-1}$…
We study a possible formation mechanism for elliptical/S0 galaxies using N-body simulations with GRAPE. A close galaxy encounter which does not lead to a merger can induce a strong bar in an initially axisymmetric disk. This bar is unstable…
We estimate the distribution of apparent axis ratios $q$ for galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Early Data Release. We divide the galaxies by profile type (de Vaucouleurs versus exponential) as well as by color ($u^* - r^* \leq…
Dynamical modeling and strong lensing data indicate that the total density profiles of early-type galaxies are close to isothermal, i.e., rho_tot ~ r^gamma with gamma approx -2. To understand the origin of this universal slope we study a…
We use numerical models which include star formation to analyze the mass profiles of remnants formed by mergers of disk galaxies. During a merger, dissipation in gas and ensuing star formation leave behind a dense stellar core in the…
Recent progress is summarized on the determination of the density distributions of stars and dark matter, stellar kinematics, and stellar population properties, in the extended, low surface brightness halo regions of elliptical galaxies.…
We use a new non-parametric Bayesian approach to obtain the most probable mass distributions and circular velocity curves along with their confidence ranges, given deprojected density and temperature profiles of the hot gas surrounding…
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 detailed surface photometry of a sample of early-type galaxies in the Hubble Deep Field is presented as part of a long-term project aimed to settle strong observational constraints to the theories modelling the evolution of elliptical…
We present collisionless simulations of dry mergers in groups of three to twenty-five galaxies to test the hypothesis that elliptical galaxies form at the centers of such groups. Mock observations of the central remnants confirm their…
We investigate the formation of virialized halos due to the gravitational collapse of collisionless matter using high-resolution N-body simulations. A variety of formation scenarios are studied, ranging from hierarchical clustering to…
Nearly singular isothermal mass distributions with small core radii are consistent with stellar dynamics, lens statistics, and lens models as a model for E/S0 galaxies. Models like the de Vaucouleurs model with a constant mass-to-light…
A review of the present observational and theoretical status of elliptical galaxies is presented with the aim to clarify whether the monolithic or the hierarchical, is a more viable scenario for the origin of these structures. We describe…
The near orthogonal distributions of dwarf elliptical (dE) and giant elliptical (E) galaxies in the mu_e-Mag and mu_e-log(R_e) diagrams have been interpreted as evidence for two distinct galaxy formation processes. However, continuous,…
Elliptical galaxies are modelled as Sersic luminosity distributions with density profiles (DPs) for the total mass adopted from the DPs of haloes within dissipationless LambdaCDM N-body simulations. Ellipticals turn out to be inconsistent…