Related papers: The Shapes and Ages of Elliptical Galaxies
We test the hypothesis that the apparent axis ratio of an elliptical galaxy is correlated with the age of its stellar population. We find that old ellipticals (with estimated stellar ages t > 7.5 Gyr) are rounder on average than younger…
The mean ages of early-type galaxies obtained from the analysis of optical spectra, give a mean age of 8 Gyr at z = 0, with 40% being younger than 6 Gyr. Independent age determinations are possible by using infrared spectra (5-21 microns),…
We study the stellar populations of 1,923 elliptical galaxies at z<0.05 selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey as a function of velocity dispersion, sigma, and environment. We construct average, high signal-to-noise spectra and find the…
New calibrations of spectrophotometric indices of elliptical galaxies as functions of spectrophotometric indices are presented, permitting estimates of mean stellar population ages and metallicities. These calibrations are based on…
We determine relative stellar ages and metallicities mainly for about 80 elliptical galaxies in low and high density environments via the latest binary stellar population (BSP) synthesis model and test a latest hierarchical formation model…
In this paper we address the question whether age and metallicity effects can be disentangled with the aid of the broad-band colours and spectral indices from absorption feature strengths, so that the age of elliptical galaxies can be…
The fundamental plane (FP) has an intrinsic scatter that can not be explained purely by observational errors. Using recently available age estimates for nearby early type galaxies, we show that a galaxy's position relative to the FP depends…
In hierarchical models of galaxy formation, ellipticals form from the merging of disk galaxies drawn together by gravity as their surrounding dark halos coalesce. Using semi-analytic techniques, we are able to follow the merging, star…
Using semi-analytical models of galaxy formation, the origin of boxy and disky elliptical galaxies is investigated. We find that the simple scenario, motivated by N-body simulations, in which the isophotal shape is only dependent on the…
I present some results of 3D spectroscopy for a small sample of dwarf elliptical galaxies, mostly members of small groups. The galaxies under consideration have a typical absolute magnitude of -18 (B-band), and at the Kormendy's relation…
The last decade of research on elliptical galaxies has produced a wealth of new information concerning both their detailed structure and their global scaling relations. We review the old and new results about isophote shapes and…
We have assembled a catalogue of relative ages, metallicities and abundance ratios for about 150 local galaxies in field, group and cluster environments. The galaxies span morphological types from cD and ellipticals, to late type spirals.…
We have compiled a sample of 2728 nearby ($z<0.08$) elliptical galaxies with photometry in the $g,r,i,z$ bands from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and $J,H,K$ photometry from the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS). Stellar masses,…
Near-infrared spectra of 50 elliptical galaxies in the Pisces, A2199 and A2634 clusters, and in the general field, have been obtained. The strength of the CO (2.3 micron) absorption feature in these galaxies is used to explore the presence…
The mid-infrared (10-20 um) luminosity of elliptical galaxies is dominated by the integrated emission from circumstellar dust in red giant stars. As a single stellar population evolves, the rate of dusty mass loss from red giant stars…
The structural properties of elliptical galaxies are consistent with their formation in a merging hierarchy. In this picture, the role of gaseous processes and dissipation decreased with increasing mass creating preferentially rotationally…
In models of galaxy formation in a hierarchical Universe, elliptical galaxies form through the merging of smaller disk systems. These models yield a number of testable predictions if reliable techniques for determining the relative ages and…
Surface temperature distribution of horizontal-branch (HB) stars is very sensitive to age in old stellar systems, which makes it an attractive age indicator. In this paper, we present the recent revision of our model calculations for the HB…
After taking into account, for the first time, the detailed systematic variation of horizontal-branch (HB) morphology with age and metallicity, our population synthesis models show that the integrated H beta index is significantly affected…
In a sample of about 45,700 early-type galaxies extracted from SDSS, we find that the shape, normalization, and dispersion around the mean size-stellar mass relation is the same for young and old systems, provided the stellar mass is…