Related papers: Questions on pure luminosity evolution for ellipti…
We present a new analysis of the rest-frame B-band COMBO-17 and DEEP2 luminosity functions (LFs) of early-type galaxies (ETGs) as a function of luminosity and mass. Our aim is to place new stringent constraints on the evolution of ETGs…
How elliptical galaxies form is a key question in observational cosmology. While the formation of massive ellipticals is strongly linked to mergers, the low mass (Mstar < 10^9.5 MSun) regime remains less well explored. In particular,…
[Abridged] We study the properties, evolution and formation mechanisms of isolated field elliptical galaxies. We create a mock catalogue of isolated field elliptical galaxies from the Millennium Simulation Galaxy Catalogue, and trace their…
We study the evolution of $L_{*}$ elliptical galaxies in the color-magnitude diagram in terms of their star-formation history and environment, in an attempt to learn about their quenching process. We have visually extracted 1109 $L_{*}$…
We present a sample of 330 blue edge-on low surface brightness galaxies (ELSBGs). To understand the chemical evolution of LSBGs, we derived the gas-phase abundance and the [$\alpha$/Fe] ratio. Compared with star-forming galaxies, ELSBGs…
The current evidence about the age of stellar populations in elliptical galaxies is reviewed. The case for the bulk of stars in galactic spheroids (ellipticals and bulges) having formed at high redshift (z>~3) is now compelling, both for…
We reconstruct the history of the cosmic star formation in the universe by means of detailed chemical evolution models for galaxies of different morphological types. We consider a picture of coeval, non-interacting evolving galaxies where…
It has recently been argued that single-collapse high-redshift models for elliptical galaxy formation can be rejected because they predict large numbers of very red galaxies at intermediate redshifts which are not seen in deep…
We present models predicting the magnitude, redshift, and color distributions of field galaxies. We explore whether a fading starburst scenario can account for the observations of faint blue galaxies. We marginally rule out a starburst…
The formation and evolution of elliptical galaxies (EGs) is still an open question. In particular, recent observations suggest that elliptical galaxies are not only simple spheroidal systems of old stars. In this paper we analyze a sample…
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…
Simple pure luminosity evolution (PLE) models, in which galaxies brighten at high redshift due to increased star-formation rates (SFRs), are known to provide a good fit to the colours and number counts of galaxies throughout the optical and…
We adopt a new approach to explore the puzzling nature of faint blue field galaxies. Instead of assuming that the local luminosity function is well defined, we first determine whether any non-evolving set of luminosity functions for…
We study the evolution of elliptical galaxies at z >~ 1 on the basis of a sample of 247 Extremely Red Objects (EROs) with R-Ks >= 3.35 (AB) and Ks <= 22.1 (AB) constructed from BVRi'z'JHKs multicolor data of a 114 arcmin2 area in the…
Far-infrared Spitzer observations of elliptical galaxies are inconsistent with simple steady state models of dust creation in red giant stars and destruction by grain sputtering in the hot interstellar gas at T ~ 10^7 K. The flux at 24…
(Abridged) We analyse Hubble Space Telescope images of a complete sample of 341 galaxies drawn from both the Canada France and Autofib/Low Dispersion Survey Spectrograph ground-based redshift surveys. We discuss morphological…
Several independent lines of reasoning suggest that many of the very faint (B > 24) blue galaxies are low-mass objects that experienced a short epoch of star formation at redshifts 0.5 < z < 1 and have since faded into low luminosity, low…
We investigate pure luminosity evolution models for early-type (elliptical and S0) galaxies (i.e., no number density change or morphology transition), and examine whether these models are consistent with observed number counts in the B, I…
The interpretation of galaxy number counts in terms of cosmological models is fraught with difficulty due to uncertainties in the overall galaxy population (mix of morphological types, luminosity functions etc.) and in the observations…
The effects of late gas accretion episodes and subsequent merger-induced starbursts on the photo-chemical evolution of elliptical galaxies are studied and compared to the picture of galaxy formation occurring at high redshift with an unique…