期刊
ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL
卷 636, 期 2, 页码 L81-L84出版社
IOP PUBLISHING LTD
DOI: 10.1086/500205
关键词
galaxies : elliptical and lenticular,cD; galaxies : evolution; galaxies : interactions; galaxies : structure; methods : numerical
The luminosity dependence of kinematic and isophotal properties of elliptical galaxies is investigated using numerical simulations of galaxy merging, combined with semianalytical models of hierarchical structure formation. Mergers of spiral galaxies as the only formation mechanism for elliptical galaxies can reproduce neither the kinematic and photometric properties of very massive elliptical galaxies nor the change from rotationally flattened, disky systems to anisotropic, boxy systems with increasing luminosity. We present numerical simulations showing that binary mergers of early-type galaxies open an additional channel for the formation of anisotropic, slowly rotating, boxy elliptical galaxies. Including this channel in a semianalytical model, we can successfully reproduce the observed trend that more luminous giant elliptical galaxies are more boxy and less flattened by rotation. This trend can be more strongly reproduced by suppressing residual gas infall and star formation for galaxies with stellar bulge masses M* >= 3 x 10(10) M-circle dot. Hence we propose that mergers of early-type galaxies play an important role in the assembly of massive elliptical galaxies.
作者
我是这篇论文的作者
点击您的名字以认领此论文并将其添加到您的个人资料中。
推荐
暂无数据