Related papers: Small Groups of Galaxies: a Clue to a Critical Uni…
The high-density environment of galaxy clusters is ripe for collisional encounters of galaxies. While the large velocity dispersion of clusters was originally thought to preclude slow encounters, the infall of smaller groups into the…
We study the formation and evolution of small groups of galaxies using new Monte Carlo simulations. These are directly based on the random walk approach to the statistics of condensations collapsing by gravitational instability, and the…
A review of gravitational and hydrodynamical processes during formation of clusters and evolution of galaxies is given. Early, at the advent of N-body computer simulations, the importance of tidal fields in galaxy encounters has been…
We present a pedagogical review on the formation and evolution of galaxies in groups, utilizing observational information from the Local Group to galaxies at z~6. The majority of galaxies in the nearby universe are found in groups, and…
Compact groups of galaxies have posed a number of challenging questions. Intensive observational and theoretical studies are now providing answers to many of these, and at the same time, are revealing unexpected new clues about the nature…
A significant fraction of clusters of galaxies are observed to have substructure, which implies that merging between clusters and subclusters is a rather common physical process of cluster formation. It still remains unclear how cluster…
We discuss the merging rates in compact groups of 5 identical elliptical galaxies. All groups have the same mass and binding energy. We consider both cases with individual halos and cases where the halo is common to all galaxies and…
Compact groups have high galaxy densities and low velocity dispersions, and their group members have experienced numerous and frequent interactions during their lifetimes. They provide a unique environment to study the evolution of…
In a Lambda CDM Universe, galaxies grow in mass both through star formation and through addition of already-formed stars in galaxy mergers. Because of this partial decoupling of these two modes of galaxy growth, I discuss each separately in…
The nature of compact groups (CGs) of galaxies, apparently so dense that the galaxies often overlap, is still a subject of debate: Are CGs roughly as dense in 3D as they appear in projection? Or are they caused by chance alignments of…
We investigate the dynamical evolution of galaxies in groups with different formation epochs. Galaxy groups have been selected to be in different dynamical states, namely dynamically old and dynamically young, which reflect their early and…
This paper addresses the questions of what we have learned about how and when dense star clusters form, and what studies of star clusters have revealed about galaxy formation and evolution. One important observation is that globular…
Interacting galaxies favor the formation of star clusters but are also suspected to affect their evolution through an intense and rapidly varying tidal field. Treating this complex behaviour remains out-of-reach of (semi-)analytical…
The evolution of galaxies is driven strongly by dynamical processes including internal instabilities, tidal interactions and mergers. The cluster environment is a useful laboratory for studying these effects. I present recent results on…
It is shown that compact groups of galaxies (HCGs, ShCGS) are stable formations, in which principal member galaxies together with faint galaxies in their environment rotate in elongated orbits around the common gravitational center of the…
Compact groups (CGs) of galaxies are extreme environments for morphological transformations and the cessation of star formation. Though initially considered isolated, it is now recognised that many CGs are embedded in larger structures. We…
Optical and X-ray studies have established the prevalence of significant substructure in clusters of galaxies, indicating that clusters are young systems, and that recent major mergers have occurred in many clusters. Numerical simulations…
[Abridged] The environment where galaxies are found heavily influences their evolution. Close groupings, like the cores of galaxy clusters or compact groups, evolve in ways far more dramatic than their isolated counterparts. We have…
The absolute magnitude of the brightest galaxy of clusters varies remarkably little and is nearly independent of all other physical properties of the cluster as, e.g., its spatial extension or its richness. The question arises whether the…
The different dynamical processes (relaxation, dynamical friction, tides and mergers) operating in groups and clusters are reviewed. The small-scale substructure observed in clusters is argued to be the remnants of the cores of rich…