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Structural evolution of massive early-type galaxies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 July 2013

Ludwig Oser ,
Thorsten Naab ,
Jeremiah P. Ostriker  and
Peter H. Johansson
Ludwig Oser
Affiliation:
Max-Planck-Institut für Astrophysik, Karl-Schwarzschild-Strasse 1, 85741, Garching, Germany
Thorsten Naab
Affiliation:
Max-Planck-Institut für Astrophysik, Karl-Schwarzschild-Strasse 1, 85741, Garching, Germany
Jeremiah P. Ostriker
Affiliation:
Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA
Peter H. Johansson
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, University of Helsinki, Gustaf Hällströmin katu 2a, FI-00014 Helsinki, Finlandoser@mpa-garching.mpg.de
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Abstract

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We use a large sample of cosmological re-simulations of individual massive galaxies to investigate the origin of the strong increase in sizes and weak decrease of the stellar velocity dispersions since z = 2. At the end of a rapid early phase of star-formation, where stars are created from infalling cold gas, our simulated galaxies are all compact with projected half-mass radii of ≲ 1 kpc and central line-of-sight velocity dispersions of ≈ 262 km s−1. At lower redshifts (z < 2) those galaxies grow predominantly by the accretion of smaller stellar systems and evolve towards the observed local mass-size and mass-velocity dispersion relations. This loss of compactness is accompanied with an increase of central dark matter fractions. We find that the structural evolution of massive galaxies can be explained by frequent minor stellar mergers, which is the dominant mode of accretion for our simulated galaxies.

Keywords

galaxies: formationgalaxies: evolutionmethods: numerical
Type
Contributed Papers
Information
Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union , Volume 8 , Symposium S295: The intriguing life of massive galaxies , August 2012 , pp. 204 - 207
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2013 

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