Related papers: Elliptical Galaxies: Detailed Structure, Scaling R…
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…
I will present recent theoretical results on the formation and the high redshift assembly of spheroids. These findings have been obtained by utilising different and complementary techniques: chemodynamical models offer great insight in the…
We present a model for the broad morphological distinction between the disk and spheroidal components of galaxies. Elaborating on the hierarchical clustering scheme of galaxy formation proposed by Cole et al., we assume that galaxies form…
To show that the bulk of the star formation and the galaxy assembly should occur simultaneously in order to reproduce at the same time the downsizing and the chemical properties of present-day massive spheroids within one effective…
We investigate the chemical properties of local galaxies within a cosmological framework in the hierarchical picture of galaxy formation. To this aim, we use a hierarchical semi-analytic model which includes the contribution from (i) low…
Isolated galaxies in low-density regions are significant in the sense that they are least affected by the hierarchical pattern of galaxy growth, and interactions with perturbers, at least for the last few Gyr. To form a comprehensive…
High resolution gravity plus smoothed particle hydrodynamics simulations are used to study the formation of galaxies within the context of hierarchical structure formation. The simulations have sufficient dynamic range to resolve from ten…
Galaxies grow primarily via accretion-driven star formation in discs and merger-driven growth of bulges. These processes are implicit in semi-analytical models of galaxy formation, with bulge growth in particular relating directly to the…
In this study we present a simple model of elliptical galaxies aimed at interpreting the gradients in colours and narrow band indices observed across these systems. Salient features of the model are the gradients in mass density and star…
This paper presents a review of the topic of galaxy formation and evolution, focusing on basic features of galaxies, and how these observables reveal how galaxies and their stars assemble over cosmic time. I give an overview of the observed…
This review summarizes some aspects of the central kiloparsec scale structure of galaxies, and in particular spiral galaxies, elliptical galaxies and merger remnants. The focus is on results from optical and near-IR imaging and…
Galaxies are found to obey scaling relations between a number of observables. These relations follow different trends at the low- and the high-mass ends. The processes driving the curvature of scaling relations remain uncertain. In this…
Large-scale asymmetries (i.e. lopsidedness) are a common feature in the stellar density distribution of nearby disk galaxies both in low- and high-density environments. In this work, we characterize the present-day lopsidedness in a sample…
After the discovery that supermassive black holes (SMBHs) are ubiquitous at the center of stellar spheroids and that their mass Mbh, in the range 10^6-10^9 Msun, is tightly related to global properties of the host stellar system, the idea…
Recent work on the equilibrium and stability of ellipsoidal stellar systems is reviewed. The absence of constant-density cores in early-type galaxies implies that chaos and high-order resonances are generic features of the motion in…
Recent spectroscopic observations of planetary nebulae (PNe) in several elliptical galaxies have revealed structural and kinematical properties of the outer stellar halo regions. In order to elucidate the origin of the properties of these…
Dwarf galaxies, as the most numerous type of galaxy, offer the potential to study galaxy formation and evolution in detail in the nearby Universe. Although they seem to be simple systems at first view, they remain poorly understood. In an…
Over the past three decades the established view of a nearly homogeneuous, featureless Universe on scales larger than a few Megaparsec has been completely overhauled. In particular through the advent of ever larger galaxy redshift surveys…
The projected kinematical properties of unequal-mass merger remnants of disk galaxies are analysed and shown to agree well with observations of disky, fast rotating elliptical galaxies. This supports the major merger hypothesis of…
This talk investigates the formation of early-type galaxies from a deliberately observational view point. I begin by reviewing the conclusions that can be reached by comparing the detailed properties of galaxies in present-day clusters,…