Related papers: Elliptical Galaxy Dynamics: The Issues Pertaining …
Spiral galaxies have most of their stellar mass in a large rotating disk, and only a modest fraction in a central spheroidal bulge. This poses a major challenge for cosmological models of galaxy formation. Galaxies form at the centre of…
The traditional view of elliptical galaxies has been that they formed in a single, rapid burst of star formation at high redshift, and have evolved quiescently since that time. In opposition to this traditional view is evidence that at…
The history of galaxy formation via star formation and stellar mass assembly rates is now known with some certainty, yet the connection between high redshift and low redshift galaxy populations is not yet clear. By identifying and studying…
It is discussed that the formation of the spiral galaxies is driven by the cosmic background rotation, not a result of an isolated evolution proposed by the density wave theory. To analyze the motions of the galaxies, a simple double…
The formation and evolution of galaxies is one of the great outstanding problems of astrophysics. Within the broad context of hierachical structure formation, we have only a crude picture of how galaxies like our own came into existence. A…
We present a phenomenological model for understanding the origins and evolution of galaxy morphologies from a phenomenological perspective. The model includes an observationally motivated prescription for star formation in galaxy disks, as…
In order to investigate the formation mechanisms of the rare compact elliptical galaxies (cE) we have compiled a sample of 25 cEs with good SDSS spectra, covering a range of stellar masses, sizes and environments. They have been visually…
Star formation in elliptical galaxies (Es) was and is mostly dominated by mergers and accretions with many suggestive examples seen among local galaxies. Present day star formation in Es is easily measurable in two thirds of Es and appears…
Elliptical galaxies outside dense clusters are observed to contain small amounts (relative to spiral galaxies) of cold interstellar gas. This review discusses the atomic gas, the molecular gas, and the dust in elliptical galaxies. Field…
Galaxies represent the visible fabric of the Universe and there has been considerable progress recently in both observational and theoretical studies. The underlying goal is to understand the present-day diversity of galaxy forms, masses…
The observations of bulge/disk segregation in the Universe are reviewed with a focus on whether the observed segregation in clusters is local or global, and whether there is bulge-disk segregation on large-scales. The high concentration of…
The 5 independent correlations between the properties of galaxies observed outside big clusters must set such strong constraints on any theory of galaxy formation that it is hard to imagine any but the right one passing muster; certainly…
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…
The traditional view of the morphology-spin connection is being challenged by recent integral-field-unit observations, as the majority of early-type galaxies are found to have a rotational component that is often as large as a dispersion…
These notes collect together current work on the effect of the environment on galaxy formation and evolution. They are broken into four distinct parts. The first deals with the observational debate surrounding the question of whether…
The formation process, properties, and spatial distribution of galaxy groups and clusters are closely related to the background cosmological model. We use numerical simulations of variants of the CDM model with different cosmological…
Despite the insights gained in the last few years, our knowledge about the formation and evolution scenario for the spheroid-dominated galaxies is still incomplete. New and more powerful cosmological simulations have been developed that…
The structure, kinematics and dynamics of the Galactic stellar halo are reviewed including evidence of substructure in the spatial distribution and kinematics of halo stars. Implications for galaxy formation theory are subsequently…
The overabundance of Mg relative to Fe, observed in the nuclei of bright ellipticals, and its increase with galactic mass, poses a serious problem for all current models of galaxy formation. Here we improve on the one-zone chemical…
The problem of galaxy formation and its dependence on thermodynamic properties is addressed by using Eulerian hydrodynamic numerical simulations of large scale structure formation. Global galaxy properties are explored in simulations…