Related papers: Dynamics of Mergers
Do disk galaxies exist at redshifts much greater than unity, and how might they look different from local disks? How does the morphological mix of galaxies change with redshift? What can we learn from current observations about the…
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…
Imaging spectroscopy using the new Palomar Integral Field Spectrograph is presented for the Pa-alpha line in four ultraluminous infrared galaxies. In most cases, we are able to establish the geometry of the merger, and thus estimate the…
The formation of elliptical galaxies as a result of the merging of spiral galaxies is discussed. We analyse a large set of numerical N-Body merger simulations which show that major mergers can in principle explain the observed isophotal…
Using longslit, optical spectra of Ultraluminous Infrared Galaxies (ULIRGs), we measure the evolution in the star-formation intensity during galactic mergers. In individual galaxies, we resolve kpc scales allowing comparison of the nucleus,…
Studying outflows from young massive star-forming clusters allows one to deduce physical processes that lead to the formation of the most massive stars. I will review the current state of high-spatial-resolution interferometric (sub-)mm…
Together with interstellar turbulence, gravitation is one key player in star formation. It acts both at galactic scales in the assembly of gas into dense clouds, and inside those structures for their collapse and the formation of…
Galaxies evolve through a dynamic exchange of material with their immediate surrounding environment, the so-called circumgalactic medium (CGM). Understanding the physics of gas flows and the nature of the CGM is thus fundamental to studying…
Galactic collisions trigger a number of phenomena, such as transportation inward of gas from distances of up to kiloparsecs from the center of a galaxy to the nuclear region, fuelling a central starburst or nuclear activity. The inverse…
Major mergers and interactions between gas-rich galaxies with comparable masses are thought to be the main triggers of starburst. In this work, we study, for a large stellar mass range, the interaction rate of the starburst galaxies in the…
The diffuse light in clusters of galaxies, or intracluster light, has attracted a lot of attention lately due to its potential in describing the assembly history of galaxy clusters and to explain the observed growth of the brightest cluster…
We use numerical simulations to study the development of gas/star offsets in the tidal tails of merging galaxies. These offsets are shown to be a natural consequence of the radially extended HI spatial distribution in disk galaxies, coupled…
There are many processes that can transport gas from the galaxies to their environment and enrich the environment in this way with metals. These metal enrichment processes have a large influence on the evolution of both the galaxies and…
Ultraluminous infrared galaxies (ULIRGs) are characterised by extreme starburst (SB) and AGN activity, and are therefore ideal laboratories for studying the outflow phenomena. We have recently started a project called Physics of ULIRGs with…
Based on the earlier work of Gunn and McCrea we model the formation of globular clusters in merging galaxies. Neutral hydrogen observations of dwarf irregular galaxies as well as more luminous systems are used to provide the key parameters…
Galactic winds are the primary mechanism by which energy and metals are recycled in galaxies and are deposited into the intergalactic medium. New observations are revealing the ubiquity of this process, particularly at high redshift. We…
We analyse the relation between the dynamical state of a cluster of galaxies and the activity (star formation and AGN) of its members. For the case of Abell 85 we find some evidence for an enhanced activity of both types in substructures…
Observations in the visible and near infrared are transforming our view of the processes affecting galaxy evolution, much of which is dominated by interactions with the large scale environment. Yet a complete picture is missing, as no…
The A901/2 system is a rare case of galaxy cluster interaction, in which two galaxy clusters and two smaller groups are seen in route of collision with each other simultaneously. Within each of the four substructures, several galaxies with…
We present cosmological simulations of galaxy clusters, with focus on the cluster outskirts. We show that large-scale cosmic accretion and mergers produce significant internal gas motions and inhomogeneous gas distribution ("clumpiness") in…