Gravity is nearly a universal constant in the cusp of an NFW galaxy halo. Inside this external field an isothermal gas sphere will collapse and trigger a starburst if above a critical central pressure. Thus formed spheroidal stellar systems have Sersic-profile and satisfy the Faber-Jackson relation. The process is consistent with observed starbursts. We also recover the MBH − σ* relation, if the gas collapse is regulated or resisted by the feedback from radiation from the central BH.

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and photometric/spectroscopic surveys of two z ~ 0.8 massive clusters of galaxies and the Chandra Deep Field-South (CDFS) are used to construct volume-limited, stellar mass-selected samples of galaxies at redshifts 0 < z < 1 in a large range of environments. Morphologies are determined visually and with an automated method, using the Sérsic parameter n and a measure of the residual from the Sérsic model fits, called “bumpiness”, to distinguish different morphologies. The agreement between the visual and automated methods is excellent. The fraction of E+S0 galaxies with masses larger than ~ 0.5 M* is 40 − 50% in the field, and > 80% in the clusters, without significant changes with redshift. Therefore, we find that the morphology-density relation (MDR) for galaxies more massive than ~ 0.5 M* has remained constant since at least z ~ 0.8. This implies that galaxy evolution (in terms of mass, star formation, color, morphology, etc.) must happen such that the MDR does not change.

Early-type galaxies, considered as large bulges, have been found to have had a much-more-than-boring star formation history in recent years by the UV satellite GALEX. The most massive bulges, brightest cluster galaxies, appear to be relatively free of young stars. But smaller bulges, normal ellipticals and lenticulars, often show unambiguous sign of recent star formation in their UV flux. The fraction of such UV-bright bulges in the volume-limited sample climbs up to the staggering 30%. The bulges of spirals follow similar trends but a larger fraction showing signs of current and recent star formation. The implication on the bulge formation and evolution is discussed.

We examine the photometric and structural properties of early-type galaxies derived from the ACS Virgo and Fornax Cluster Surveys, supplementing these data with previously published or newly reanalysed data for additional early-type galaxies in Virgo, Fornax and the Local Group. As we have noted elsewhere, Sérsic models are found to provide accurate representations of the observed brightness profiles on scales greater than a few percent of the effective radius, Re. On smaller scales, the brightness profiles of bright (MB ≳ −20) galaxies show central deficits with respect to the inward extrapolation of the Sérsic models; fainter galaxies usually show central excesses. Fainter than MB ≈ −20, we find a continuity in the photometric and structural scaling relations: i.e., between absolute magnitude, central surface brightness, Sérsic index, effective radius, and the surface brightness measured at, and averaged within, the effective radius. There is no evidence for a “dwarf/giant dichotomy” — a conclusion consistent with a number of recent studies but contrary to some earlier claims.

We present a study of the internal kinematics and stellar populations of early-type galaxies in the Fornax cluster. 10 galaxies in a luminosity range of −21.8≤MB≤−17.4 were observed with the integral field units (IFU) of Gemini South GMOS and VLT-VIMOS. Velocity maps and age-metallicity diagrams are presented for NGC 1404 and NGC 1419.

Future space mission of astrometric satellite, GAIA and JASMINE (Japan Astrometry Satellite Mission for Infrared Exploration), will produce astrometric parameter, such as positions, parallaxes, and proper motions of stars in the Galactic bulge. Then kinematical information will be obtained in the future. Accordingly it is expected that our understanding of the dynamical structure will be greatly improved. Therefore it is important to make a method to construct a kinematical and dynamical structure of the Galactic bulge immediately.

In central regions of non-axisymmetric galaxies high-resolution hydrodynamical simulations indicate spiral shocks, which are capable of transporting gas inwards. The efficiency of transport is lower at smaller radii, therefore instead of all gas dropping onto the galactic centre, a roughly uniform distribution of high-density gas develops in the gaseous nuclear spiral downstream from the shock, and the shear in gas is very low there. These are excellent conditions for star formation. This mechanism is likely to contribute to the process of (pseudo-) bulge formation.

Observational and theoretical evidence that internal, slow (“secular”) evolution reshapes galaxy disks is reviewed in Kormendy & Kennicutt (2004). This update has three aims. First, I emphasize that this evolution is very general – it is as fundamental to the evolution of galaxy disks as (e. g.) core collapse is to globular clusters, as the production of hot Jupiters is to the evolution of protoplanetary disks, and as evolution to red giants containing proto-white-dwarfs is to stellar evolution. One consequence for disk galaxies is the buildup of dense central components that get mistaken for classical (i. e., merger-built) bulges but that were grown out of disk stars and gas. We call these pseudobulges. Second, I review new results on pseudobulge star formation and structure and on the distinction between boxy and disky pseudobulges. Finally, I highlight how these results make a galaxy formation problem more acute. How can hierarchical clustering produce so many pure disk galaxies with no evidence for merger-built bulges?

Although supernova explosions and stellar winds happens at scales bellow 100 pc, they affect the interstellar medium (ISM) and galaxy formation. We use cosmological N-body+Hydrodynamics simulations of galaxy formation, as well as simulations of the ISM to study the effect of stellar feedback on galactic scales. Stellar feedback maintains gas with temperatures above a million degrees. This gas fills bubbles, super-bubbles and chimneys. Our model of feedback, in which 10%–30% of the feedback energy is coming from runaway stars, reproduces this hot gas only if the resolution is better than 50 pc. This is 10 times better than the typical resolution in cosmological simulations of galaxy formation. Only with this resolution, the effect of stellar feedback in galaxy formation is resolved without any assumption about sub-resolution physics. Stellar feedback can regulate the formation of bulges and can shape the inner parts of the rotation curve.

Early-type dwarf galaxies dominate cluster populations, but their formation and evolutionary histories are poorly understood. The ALFALFA (Arecibo Legacy Fast ALFA) survey has completed observations of the Virgo Cluster in the declination range of 6 – 16 degrees. Less than 2% of the early-type dwarf population is detected, a significantly lower fraction than reported in previous papers based on more limited samples. In contrast ~30% of the irregular/BCD dwarf population is detected. The detected early-type galaxies tend to be located in the outer regions of the cluster, with a concentration in the direction of the M Cloud. Many show evidence for ongoing/recent star formation. Galaxies such as these may be undergoing morphological transition due to cluster environmental effects.

We present Spitzer observations of Tidal Dwarf Galaxies (TDGs) in three interacting systems: NGC 5291, Arp 105 & Stephan's Quintet. The spectra show bright emission from polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), nebular lines and warm molecular hydrogen, characteristic of recent episodes of star formation. The PAH emission that falls in the IRAC 8.0 μm band leads to the TDGs having an extremely red IRAC color, with [4.5] − [8.0] > 3. The emission from PAHs is characterized by a model with mainly neutral 100-C PAH atoms.

The nature of dark matter is one of the outstanding questions of astrophysics. The internal motions of member stars reveal that the lowest luminosity galaxies in the Local Group are the most dark-matter dominated. New large datasets allow one to go further, and determine systematic properties of their dark matter haloes. We summarise recent results, emphasising the critical role of the dwarf spheroidal galaxies in understanding both dark matter and baryonic processes that shape galaxy evolution.

Nearby dwarf galaxies exhibit tight correlations between their global stellar and dynamical properties, such as circular velocity, mass-to-light ratio, stellar mass, surface brightness, and metallicity. Such correlations have often been attributed to gas or metal-rich outflows driven by supernova energy feedback to the interstellar medium. We use high-resolution cosmological simulations of high-redshift galaxies with and without energy feedback, as well as analytic modeling, to investigate whether the observed correlations can arise without supernova-driven outflows. We find that the simulated dwarf galaxies exhibit correlations similar to those observed as early as z ≈ 10 and the addition of realistic levels of supernova energy feedback has no appreciable effect on these correlations. We also show that the correlations can be well reproduced by our analytic model that accounts for gas inflow but without outflows, and star formation rate obeying the Kennicutt-Schmidt law with a critical density threshold. We argue that correlations in simulated galaxies arise due to the increasingly inefficient conversion of gas into stars in low-mass dwarf galaxies rather than supernova-driven outflows.

The global missing baryon problem – that the sum of observed baryons falls short of the number expected form BBN – is well known. In addition to this, there is also a local missing baryon problem that applies to individual dark matter halos. This halo by halo missing baryon problem is such that the observed mass fraction of baryons in individual galaxies falls short of the cosmic baryon fraction. This deficit is a strong function of circular velocity. I give an empirical estimate of this function, and note the presence of a critical scale of ~ 900 km s−1 therein. I also briefly review Ωb from BBN, highlighting the persistent tension between lithium and the CMB, and discuss some pros and cons of individual galaxies and clusters of galaxies as potential reservoirs of dark baryons.

We report simulations of the formation of a giant disc galaxy from cosmological initial conditions. Two sets of initial conditions are used, initially smooth density for both gas and stars, representing the Warm dark Matter scenario, and an initially fluctuating density representing the standard spectrum for the Cold dark Matter scenario. For the WDM initial conditions, the galaxy has a population of long lived dwarf satellites at z = 0, with orbits close to a plane coincident with that of the giant galaxy disc. The detailed properties of these dwarfs mimic closely the observed properties of Local Group dwarfs with respect to mass, and kinematics. However they do not have individual dark matter halos, but orbit in the nearly spherical dark matter halo of the giant galaxy. The reason for this is that the initial population of dwarf dark matter haloes, which form during the initial collapse phase, all merge into the halo of the giant galaxy within a few to several Gyears, while the long lived dwarfs form as a secondary population by gravitational collapse of high angular momentum gas in the outer reaches of the giants proto-galactic disc. Due to their late formation and their more distant orbits, they survive until the present epoch as individual dwarf galaxies at radii 20-50kpc from the giants centre. For CDM initial conditions there are many more dwarf satellites at z = 0, some of which form early on as gas condensations in DM sub-halos, and survive with these individual DM halos till z = 0 due to their being sufficiently well bound to avoid merging with the main galaxy. However even in this case some second generation satellites form as initially gas only objects, just as for the smooth initial conditions of WDM.

We review our attempts to discover lost baryons at low redshift with the “X-ray forest” of absorption lines from the warm-hot intergalactic medium. We discuss the best evidence to date along the Mrk 421 sightline. We then discuss the missing baryons in the Local Group and the significance of the z = 0 absorption systems in X-ray spectra. We argue that the debate over the Galactic vs. extragalactic origin of the z = 0 systems is premature as these systems likely contain both components. Observations with next generation X-ray missions such as Constellation-X and XEUS will be crucial to map out the warm-hot intergalactic medium.

There are only a few “dark galaxy” candidates discovered to date in the local Universe. One of the most prominent of them is the SW component of a merging system HI 1225+01. On the other hand, the number of known very metal-poor gas-rich dwarfs similar to I Zw 18 and SBS 0335–052 E, W has grown drastically during the last decade, from a dozen and a half to about five dozen. Many of them are very gas-rich, having from ~90 to 99% of all baryons in gas. For some of such objects that have the deep photometry data, no evidences for the light of old stars are found. At least a half of such galaxies with the prominent starbursts have various evidences of interactions, including advanced mergers. This suggests that a fraction of this group objects can be a kind of very stable protogalaxies (or “dark galaxies”), which have recently experienced strong disturbances from nearby massive galaxy-size bodies. Such a collision caused the gas instabilities and its collapse with the subsequent onset of starburst. We briefly discuss the morphology and gas kinematics for the subsample of the most metal-poor dwarfs that illustrate this picture. We discuss also the relation of these rare galaxies to the processes by which “dark galaxies” can occasionally transform to optically visible galaxies.

We present the distribution of luminous and dark matter in a set of strong lensing (early-type) galaxies. By combining two independent techniques – stellar population synthesis and gravitational lensing – we can compare the baryonic and dark matter content in these galaxies within the regions that can be probed using the images of the lensed background source. Two samples were studied, extracted from the CASTLES and SLACS surveys. The former probes a wider range of redshifts and allows us to explore the mass distribution out to ~ 5Re. The high resolution optical images of the latter (using HST/ACS) are used to show a pixellated map of the ratio between total and baryonic matter. We find dark matter to be absent in the cores of these galaxies, with an increasing contribution at projected radii R ≳ Re. The slopes are roughly compatible with an isothermal slope (better interpreted as an adiabatically contracted NFW profile), but a large scatter in the slope exists among galaxies. There is a trend suggesting most massive galaxies have a higher content of dark matter in the regions probed by this analysis.

Blind HI surveys provide a census of galaxies in the local universe that is unbiased by their optical properties. Even the Arecibo Dual-Beam Survey with a sample of only 265 galaxies discovered many low surface brightness galaxies and one galaxy with no obvious stellar component. Overall the galaxies in this survey display a diverse range of gas-to-stellar properties. The environment in which a galaxy resides is shown to be one of the factors responsible for this diversity, but it is not the only one. Clearly there are other factors affecting the complex processes responsible for the conversion of gas into stars rapidly in some galaxies, slowly in others, and rapidly in the center while slowly in the outskirts in still other galaxies. Nevertheless, even the inefficient star formation observed in a large fraction of the gas-rich galaxies appears to be a significant contributor to the overall star-formation rate density locally and therefore an important driver of galaxy evolution that must be understood. We focus on a discussion of the stellar and star formation properties in a 21 cm selected sample of galaxies because it is these measurements that contain the most information about the nature of star formation in galaxies.