Studies of dynamically close pairs of galaxies can serve as a powerful probe of the galaxy merger rate and its evolution. Here we present a large sample of dynamically close pairs of galaxies selected in the K-band from the UKIDSS LAS. These data span ~ 175 deg2 on the sky in the 2dFGRS equatorial region (10h < RA < 14h). Combining the 2dFGRS redshifts with those from the SDSS, our K-band selected catalog is > 90% spectroscopically complete at KAB < 16.4. In this study, we focus on quantifying the relative contributions of wet, dry, and mixed mergers to the stellar mass buildup of galaxies over the past 1-2 Gyr.

We identified 132,684 clusters in the redshift range of 0.05 < z < 0.8 from SDSS DR8. The spectroscopic redshifts of 52,683 clusters have been included in the catalog using SDSS DR9 data. We found that BCGs are more luminous in richer clusters and at higher redshifts.

This paper describes the 2-dimensional data reduction of the LAMOST pilot survey.

Massive galaxies with old stellar populations have been put forwards as a challenge to models in which cosmic structures grow hierarchically through gravitational instability. I will explain how the growth of massive galaxies is helped by features of hierarchical models. I give a brief outline of how the galaxy formation process is modelled in hierarchical cosmologies using semi-analytical models, and illustrate how these models can be refined as our understanding of processes such as star formation improves. I then present a brief survey of the current state of play in the modelling of massive galaxies and list some outstanding challenges.

We investigate the evolution of Brightest Cluster Galaxies (BCGs) from redshift z ~ 1.6 to z = 0. We upgrade the hierarchical semi-analytic model of Croton et al. (2006) with a new spectro-photometric model that produces realistic galaxy spectra, making use of the Maraston (2005) stellar populations and a new recipe for the dust extinction. We compare the model predictions of the K-band luminosity evolution and the J-K, V-I and I-K colour evolution with a series of datasets, including Collins et al. (Nature, 2009) who argued that semi-analytic models based on the Millennium simulation cannot reproduce the red colours and high luminosity of BCGs at z > 1. We show instead that the model is well in range of the observed luminosity and correctly reproduces the colour evolution of BCGs in the whole redshift range up to z ~ 1.6. We argue that the success of the semi-analytic model is in large part due to the implementation of a more sophisticated spectro-photometric model. An analysis of the model BCGs shows an increase in mass by a factor 2-3 since z ~ 1, and star formation activity down to low redshifts. While the consensus regarding BCGs is that they are passively evolving, we argue that this conclusion is affected by the degeneracy between star formation history and stellar population models used in SED-fitting, and by the inefficacy of toy-models of passive evolution to capture the complexity of real galaxies, especially those with rich merger histories like BCGs. Following this argument, we also show that in the semi-analytic model, the BCGs show a realistic mix of stellar populations, and that these stellar populations are mostly old. In addition, the age-redshift relation of the model BCGs follows that of the Universe, meaning that given their merger history and star formation history, the ageing of BCGs is always dominated by the ageing of their stellar populations. In a ΛCDM Universe, we define such evolution as ‘passive in the hierarchical sense’.

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.

Observational results from strong lensing and dynamical modeling indicate that the total density profiles of early-type galaxies are close to isothermal, i.e. ρtot ∝ rγ with γ ≈ −2. To understand the origin of this universal slope we study a set of simulated spheroids formed in cosmological hydrodynamical zoom-in simulations (see Oser et al. 2010 for more details). We find that the total stellar plus dark matter density profiles of all our simulations on average can be described by a power law with a slope of γ ≈ −2.1, with a tendency towards steeper slopes for more compact, lower mass ellipticals, while the total intrinsic velocity dispersion is flat for all simulations, independent of the values of γ. Our results are in good agreement with observations of Coma cluster ellipticals (Thomas et al. 2007) and results from strong lensing (Sonnenfeld et al. 2012). We find that for z ≳ 2 the majority of the stellar build-up occurs through in-situ star formation, i.e. the gas falls to the center of the galaxy and forms stars, causing the galaxy to be more compact and thus the stellar component to be more dominant. As a result, the total density slopes at z ≈ 2 are generally steeper (around γ ≈ −3). Between z = 2 and z = 0 galaxies grow mostly through dry merging, with each merging event shifting the slope more towards γ ≈ −2. We conclude from our simulations that the steepness of the slope of present day galaxies is a signature of the importance of mostly dry mergers in the formation of an elliptical, and suggest that all elliptical galaxies will with time end up in a configuration with a density slope of γ ≈ −2. For a more detailed analysis with a larger sample of simulations see Remus et al. (2013).

The spatial distributions of luminous and dark matter in massive early-type galaxies (ETGs) reflect the formation processes which shaped these systems. This article reviews the predictions of cosmological simulations for the dark and baryonic components of ETGs, and the observational constraints from lensing, hydrostatic X-ray gas atmospheres, and outer halo stellar dynamics.

The X-shooter Lens Survey (XLENS) aims to study the interplay of dark matter (DM) and stellar content in the inner regions of massive early-type galaxies (ETGs) by combining strong gravitational lensing, dynamical models, and spectroscopic stellar population analysis. XLENS targets a sample of ETGs from the SLACS survey (The Sloan Lens ACS Survey, e.g. Bolton et al. 2006) with velocity dispersions ≥250 kms−1 using the X-Shooter spectrograph on ESO's Very Large Telescope. Recent observations indicate that the internal dark-matter fraction of ETGs increases rapidly with galaxy mass, although some hints for a varying initial mass function (IMF) have also been suggested, where the low-mass end of the stellar IMF steepens with galaxy mass. XLENS first results unambiguously confirm that DM plays an important role already within one effective radius for very massive systems (Spiniello et al. 2011). Moreover, studying equivalent widths of certain red spectral features which are indicators of low-mass stars in massive ETGs (e.g. NaI and TiO2) as a function of age and metallicity (i.e. Mgb, Fe, Hβ), and as function of stellar velocity dispersion, has shown that the IMF slope is varying mildly with galaxy mass (Spiniello et al. 2012).

We studied the stellar populations, distribution of dark matter, and dynamical structure of a sample of 25 early-type galaxies in the Coma and Abell~262 clusters. We derived dynamical mass-to-light ratios and dark matter densities from orbit-based dynamical models, complemented by the ages, metallicities, and α-element abundances of the galaxies from single stellar population models. Most of the galaxies have a significant detection of dark matter and their halos are about 10 times denser than in spirals of the same stellar mass. Calibrating dark matter densities to cosmological simulations we find assembly redshifts zDM ≈ 1–3. The dynamical mass that follows the light is larger than expected for a Kroupa stellar initial mass function, especially in galaxies with high velocity dispersion σeff inside the effective radius reff. We now have 5 of 25 galaxies where mass follows light to 1–3 reff, the dynamical mass-to-light ratio of all the mass that follows the light is large (≈ 8–10 in the Kron-Cousins R band), the dark matter fraction is negligible to 1–3 reff. This could indicate a ‘massive’ initial mass function in massive early-type galaxies. Alternatively, some of the dark matter in massive galaxies could follow the light very closely suggesting a significant degeneracy between luminous and dark matter.

Massive Brightest Cluster Galaxies (BCGs) are observed to have a range of angular momenta, suggesting a variety of merging histories.

We carried out a photometric analysis of a sample of early-type galaxies in Abell~1689 at z = 0.183, using HST/ACS archive images in the rest-frame V band. We performed a two-dimensional photometric decomposition of each galaxy surface-brightness distribution using the GASP2D fitting algorithm (Méndez-Abreu et al. 2008). We adopted both a Sérsic and de Vaucouleurs law. S0 galaxies were analysed also taking into account a disc component described by an exponential law. The derived photometric parameters, together with the ones previously obtained with the curve of growth method (Houghton et al. 2012), will be used to analyse the Fundamental Plane of Abell 1689 and quantify how it is affected by the use of different decomposition techniques (Dalla Bontà et al. 2013, in preparation). The stellar velocity dispersions of the sample galaxies were derived by using GEMINI-N/GMOS and VLT/FLAMES (D'Eugenio et al. 2013) spectroscopic data.

We study the asymmetric drift in the Milky Way with the aid of the RAVE data. Then we apply the deduced asymmetric drift correction to the SEGUE data and reconstruct the behaviour of the rotation curve of the Milky Way in the extended solar neighbourhood. The rotation curve appears to be essentially flat. We supplement our data by tangent point measurements of the inner rotation curve and fit it by a density model of the Milky Way.

Using results from parametric multi-component multi-band image fitting of 1000 local massive galaxies in the SDSS, I investigate scaling relations of elliptical galaxies and bulges of disk galaxies. I show that ellipticals and bulges occupy different loci in both the edge-on and face-on views of the fundamental plane. In addition, ellipticals and bulges have offset mass-size relations (see Fig. 1). These results imply that massive bulges are not just massive ellipticals with a surrounding disk, a misconception driven by early studies. This is evidence that massive ellipticals and bulges have different formation histories, with important consequences for studies on galaxy formation and evolution. Full details can be seen in Gadotti (2009).

We have measured Fundamental Plane (FP) parameters in the 2MASS J, H and K passbands for 10,000 ellipticals, lenticulars and early-type spiral bulges in the 6dF Galaxy Survey (6dFGS) – a spectroscopic survey of the southern sky with |b| > 10° (Jones et al. 2009). 6dFGS provides a large near-infrared-selected sample of galaxies for accurately determining the NIR FP and investigating the trends in the FP with stellar population, morphology and environment.

We present a kinematical study of the marginally edge-on galaxy ESO 379-006. With Fabry-Perot spectroscopy at Hα we obtain velocity maps, the radial velocity field, and position-velocity diagrams parallel to the major and to the minor axis of the galaxy. We build the rotation curve of the galaxy and discuss the role of projection effects. The twisting of isovelocities in the radial velocity field of the disk of ESO 379-006 as well as a kinematical asymmetry found in the position-velocity diagrams parallel to the minor axis suggest the existence of non-circular motions that can be modeled by including a radial inflow besides the rotation motion. Extraplanar Diffuse Ionized gas was detected in this galaxy both from the images and from its kinematics. It is possible that the diffuse gas is lagging in rotation.

We carried out the multicolor surface photometry in BVR and griz filters parallel with stellar kinematic measurements from the long slit spectra for the low surface brightness galaxy Malin 2. The use of the multicolor surface photometry as well as the available HI rotation curve allowed us to construct the mass distribution model of the galaxy. Photometrical and dynamical mass estimates agree with the dark halo mass fraction of about 70% within four disc radial scalelengths (~ 70 kpc). We used our dynamical model to obtain radial profiles of the equilibrium disc volume density and gas pressure in the galaxy midplane based on the available HI and CO data. The observed molecular gas fraction appears to be much higher than in the high surface brightness galaxies for a similar gas pressure.

SLACS for the masses is the extension of the successful Sloan Lens ACS (SLACS) survey (Bolton et al. 2006, Treu et al. 2006, Koopmans et al. 2006, Gavazzi et al. 2007 and Bolton et al. 2008) but focuses on the lower-mass end of elliptical galaxies (EGs) to yield a more complete strong-lens sample. As to date, 118 out of the 137 proposed candidates have been observed and inspected individually.

We have performed a search for faint companions around the nearest massive galaxies. We see a clear signature of clustering of faint objects, both in projected separation and in velocity offset. The inferred satellite luminosity functions confirm that the abundance of faint satellites seen in the Local Group is typical of other nearby systems.

Globular clusters (GCs) are excellent tracers for the formation, assembly and evolutionary history of their host galaxies. However, their origin and their role in galaxy evolution are still unclear. There are accumulating evidences that a significant fraction of GCs in massive galaxies (e.g., M 31) are accreted during their assembly history (e.g., Mackey et al. 2010). In this contribution, we report the discovery of a possible stream of accreted GCs in M 31 using data from the literature. Unlike previous substructures of GCs identified as clumps in the phase and metallicity space (Ashman, Keith & Christina 1993), the members of this stream are widely spread but tightly correlated in the position-velocity space (see Fig. 1). The tight correlation suggests that they possibly follow very similar orbits. A number of stellar streams have been discovered in the outer halo of M 31 (e.g., Ibata et al. 2001; McConnachie et al. 2009), one of which may be physically associated with the GC stream. If the association is established, it will not only provide a key evidence for accretion origins of some GCs in M 31, but also place a strong constraint on the mass distribution of M 31.