We study whether dry merger-driven size growth of massive elliptical galaxies depends on their initial structural concentration, and analyse the validity of the homology hypothesis for virial mass determination in massive ellipticals grown by dry mergers. High-resolution simulations of a few realistic merger trees, starting with compact progenitors of different structural concentrations (Sérsic...

We propose to interpret the stellar IMF as a property of the turbulence in the star–forming gas. Gravitationally unstable density enhancements in the turbulent flow collapse and form stars. Their mass distribution can be derived analytically from the power spectrum of the turbulent flow and the isothermal shock jump conditions in the magnetized gas. For a power spectrum index β = 1.74, consiste...

We analyze deep X-ray, optical and mid-infrared Spitzer observations of the CDF-N/GOODS-N region to study a sample of 13 submillimeter-detected galaxies with spectroscopic redshifts (median z = 2.2). These galaxies are among the most active and massive at this epoch. We find evidence for a power-law correlation between the estimated stellar and X-ray luminosity, implying that masses of the blac...

We use galaxy-galaxy lensing to study the dark matter halos surrounding a sample of Locally Brightest Galaxies (LBGs) selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. We measure mean halo mass as a function of the stellar mass and colour of the central galaxy. Mock catalogues constructed from semi-analytic galaxy formation simulations demonstrate that most LBGs are the central objects of their halos...

The angular momentum evolution of cool stars during the pre-main sequence phase of stellar evolution remains a major outstanding problem. Multiple processes are likely involved in the transfer of mass and angular momentum within and out of the star+disk system. The role of coronal mass ejections (CMEs), energetic events which shed mass and magnetic flux in the Sun, has yet to be fully explored ...

We present stellar population parameters of twelve elliptical and S0 galaxies in the Coma Cluster around and including the cD galaxy NGC 4874, based on spectra obtained using the Low Resolution Imaging Spectrograph on the Keck II Telescope. Our data are among the most precise and accurate absorption-line strengths yet obtained for cluster galaxies, allowing us to examine in detail the zero-poin...

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o oo o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o We summarize recent bservati nal and the retical pr gress aimed at understanding the rigin f the stellar initial mass functi n (IMF), with specific f cus n galactic star-f rming regi ns. We synthesize data fr m vari us eff rts t determine the IMF in very y...

We compute the energy spectra of the gravitational signals emitted when a mass m0 is scattered by the gravitational field of a star of mass M >> m0. We show that, unlike black holes in similar processes, the quasi-normal modes of the star are excited, and that the amount of energy emitted in these modes depends on how close the exciting mass can get to the star. PACS numbers: 04.30.-w, 04.40.Dg...

We examine the distribution of masses of black holes in transient low mass X-ray binary systems. A Bayesian analysis suggests that it is probable that six of the seven systems with measured mass functions have black hole masses clustered near seven solar masses. There appears to be a significant gap between the masses of these systems and those of the observed neutron stars. The remaining sourc...

The presence or lack of eclipses in the X-ray light curves of ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) can be directly linked to the accreting system geometry. In the case where the compact object is stellar mass and radiates isotropically, we should expect eclipses by a main-sequence to sub-giant secondary star on the recurrence time-scale of hours to days. X-ray light curves are now available for l...