Monolithic View of Galaxy Formation and Evolution

Galaxies

Cesare Chiosi¹  Emiliano Merlin¹  Lorenzo Piovan¹ 

[1] Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Padua, Vicolo Osservatorio 2, Padua 35122, Italy; E-Mails:

关键词: observational data;    early types;    formation and evolution;    mass-radius relation;   

DOI  :  10.3390/galaxies2030300

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

We review and critically discuss the current understanding of galaxy formation and evolution limited to Early Type Galaxies (ETGs) as inferred from the observational data and briefly contrast the hierarchical and quasi-monolithic paradigms of formation and evolution. Since in Cold Dark Matter (CDM) cosmogony small scale structures typically collapse early and form low-mass haloes that subsequently can merge to assembly larger haloes, galaxies formed in the gravitational potential well of a halo are also expected to merge thus assembling their mass hierarchically. Mergers should occur all over the Hubble time and large mass galaxies should be in place only recently. However, recent observations of high redshift galaxies tell a different story: massive ETGs are already in place at high redshift. To this aim, we propose here a revision of the quasi-monolithic scenario as an alternative to the hierarchical one, in which mass assembling should occur in early stages of a galaxy lifetime and present recent models of ETGs made of Dark and Baryonic Matter in a Λ-CDM Universe that obey the latter scheme. The galaxies are followed from the detachment from the linear regime and Hubble flow at ) always have erratic, burst-like star forming histories. The present-day properties (morphology, structure, chemistry and photometry) of the model galaxies closely resemble those of the real galaxies. In this context, we also try to cast light on the physical causes of the Stellar Mass-Radius Relation (MRR) of galaxies. The MRR is the result of two complementary mechanisms: i.e., local physical processes that fix the stellar mass and the radius of each galaxy and cosmological global, statistical principles, which shape the distribution of galaxies in the MR-plane. Finally, we also briefly comment on the spectro-photometric properties of the model galaxies and how nicely they match the observational data. The picture emerging from this analysis is that the initial physical conditions of a proto-galaxy, i.e., nature, seem to play the dominant role in building up the ETGs we see today, whereas nurture by recurrent captures of small objects is a secondary actor of the fascinating and intriguing story of galaxy formation and evolution.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2014 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.