Galaxy number or luminosity density serves as a basis for many structure classification algorithms. Several methods are used to estimate this density. Among them kernel methods have probably the best statistical properties and allow also to estimate the local sample errors of the estimate. We introduce a kernel density estimator with an adaptive data-driven anisotropic kernel, describe its properties and demonstrate the wealth of additional information it gives us about the local properties of the galaxy distribution.

Giant radio galaxies create the welldistinguishable class of sources.These sources are characterized with edge-brightened radio lobes withhighly collimated radio jets and large linear sizes which make themthe largest individual structures in the Universe. They are also knownto be hosted by elliptical/disturbed host galaxies and avoid clustersand high galaxy density regions. Because of GRG, large linear sizeslobes extend well beyond the interstellar media and host galaxyhalo the evolution of the radio lobes may depend on interactionwith this environment. Using our method to extract filamentarystructure of the galaxies in our local universe we study whetherradio lobe properties in some giant radio galaxies are determinedon an interaction of this filament ambient.

In this contribution we present initial results of a study on convective boundary mixing (CBM) in massive stellar models using the GENEVA stellar evolution code (Eggenberger et al.2008). Before undertaking costly 3D hydrodynamic simulations, it is important to study the general properties of convective boundaries, such as the: composition jump; pressure gradient; and “stiffness”. Models for a 15M⊙ star were computed. We found that for convective shells above the core, the lower (in radius or mass) boundaries are “stiffer” according to the bulk Richardson number than the relative upper (Schwarzschild) boundaries. Thus, we expect reduced CBM at the lower boundaries in comparison to the upper. This has implications on flame front propagation and the onset of novae.

Massive stars play a key role in environments with very different metallicities. To interpret the role of massive stars in these systems we have to know their properties at different metallicities. The Local Group offers an excellent laboratory to this aim.

In this project, we compare different properties of galaxy groups in cosmological N-body simulations and SDSS galaxy group catalogs. In the first part of the project (Nurmi et al. 2013) we compared the basic properties of the groups like the luminosity functions, group richness and velocity dispersion distributions and studied how good is the agreement between the mock group catalog and the SDSS group catalog. Here we continue the earlier study and use updated galaxy group catalog (SDSS DR10) and new simulation data (Guo et al. 2013). We reanalyse earlier group properties and include new properties in the analysis like group environment, star formation rates and group masses. Our analysis show that there are clear differences between the simulated and observed properties of galaxy groups, especially for small groups with a few members. Also, the high luminosities are clearly overestimated in the simulations compared with the SDSS group data.

We investigate large scale structure formation of collisionless dark matter in the phase space description based on the Vlasov-Poisson equation. We present the Schrödinger method, originally proposed by \cite{WK93} as numerical technique based on the Schrödinger Poisson equation, as an analytical tool which is superior to the common standard pressureless fluid model. Whereas the dust model fails and develops singularities at shell crossing the Schrödinger method encompasses multi-streaming and even virialization.

Coherent alignments of galaxy shapes, often called“intrinsic alignments” (IA), are the most significant source of astrophysical uncertainty in weak lensing measurements. We develop the tidal alignment model of IA and demonstrate its success in describing observational data. We also describe a technique to separate IA from galaxy-galaxy lensing measurements. Applying this technique to luminous red galaxy lenses in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, we constrain potential IA contamination from associated sources to be below a few percent.

Morphological types were determined for 247 rich galaxy clusters from the PF Catalogue of Galaxy Clusters and Groups. The adopted types are based on classical morphological schemes and consider concentration to the cluster center, the signs of preferential direction or plane in the cluster, and the positions of the brightest galaxies. It is shown that both concentration and preferential plane are significant and independent morphological criteria.

The phase space distribution of matter out to ∼ 100 \rm Mpc is probed by two types of observational data: galaxy redshift surveys and peculiar motions of galaxies. Important information on the process of structure formation and deviations from standard gravity have been extracted from the accumulating data. The remarkably simple Zel'dovich approximation is the basis for much of our insight into the dynamics of structure formation and the development of data analyses methods. Progress in the methodology and some recent results is reviewed.

A quite remarkable aspect of non-interacting O-stars with detected surface magnetic fields is that they all are very slow rotators. This paper uses this unique property to first demonstrate that the projected rotational speeds of massive, hot stars, as derived using current standard spectroscopic techniques, can be severely overestimated when significant “macroturbulent” line-broadening is present. This may, for example, have consequences for deriving the statistical distribution of rotation rates in massive-star populations. It is next shown how such macroturbulence (seemingly a universal feature of hot, massive stars) is present in all but one of the magnetic O-stars, namely NGC 1624-2. Assuming then a simple model in which NGC 1624-2's exceptionally strong, large-scale magnetic field suppresses atmospheric motions down to layers where the magnetic and gas pressures are comparable, first empirical constraints on the formation depth of this enigmatic hot-star macroturbulence is derived. The results suggest it originates in the thin sub-surface convection zone of massive stars, consistent with a physical origin due to, e.g., stellar pulsations excited by the convective motions.

Achernar is a key target to investigate high stellar rotation and the Be phenonemon. It is also the hottest star for which detailed photospheric information is available. Here we report our results to determine the photospheric parameters of Achernar and evaluate how the emission of a Viscous Decretion Disk (VDD) around it would be observable. The analysis is based on interferometric data (PIONIER and AMBER at ESO-VLTI), complemented by spectroscopy and polarimetry for the circumstellar emission. For the first time fundamental parameters of a Be photosphere were determined. The presence of a residual disk at the quiescent phase and some characteristics of the new formed disk (2013 activity) are also discussed. This is rare opportunity to precisely determine the stellar brightness distribution and evaluate the evolution of a just formed Be disk.

We have obtained high-quality magnetic field measurements of 19 sharp-lined B-type stars with precisely-measured N/C abundance ratios (Nieva & Przybilla 2012). Our primary goal is to test the idea (Meynet et al. 2011) that a magnetic field may explain extra drag (through the wind) on the surface rotation, thus producing more internal shear and mixing, and thus could provide an explanation for the appearance of slowly rotating N-rich main sequence B stars.

Bulk flows of galaxies moving with respect to the cosmic microwave background are well established observationally and seen in the most recent ΛCDM simulations. With the aid of an idealised Gadget-2 simulation, we show that void asymmetries in the cosmic web can exacerbate local bulk flows of galaxies. The {\it Cosmicflows-2} survey, which has mapped in detail the 3D structure of the Local Universe, reveals that the Local Group resides in a “local sheet” of galaxies that borders a “local void” with a diameter of about 40 Mpc. The void is emptying out at a rate of 16 km s-1 Mpc-1. In a co-moving frame, the Local Sheet is found to be moving away from the Local Void at ∼ 260 km s-1. Our model shows how asymmetric collapse due to unbalanced voids on either side of a developing sheet or wall can lead to a systematic movement of the sheet. We conjectured that asymmetries could lead to a large-scale separation of dark matter and baryons, thereby driving a dependence of galaxy properties with environment, but we do {\it not} find any evidence for this effect.

We study the effect of environment to fundamental relation of elliptical galaxies. We find that superclusters, filaments and groups give noticeable effect to slope of velocity dispersions while little to luminosity slope.

OHANA is an interferometric snapshot survey of the gaseous circumstellar environments of hot stars, carried out by the VLTI group at the Paranal observatory. It aims to characterize the mass-loss dynamics (winds/disks) at unexplored spatial scales for many stars. The survey employs the unique combination of AMBER's high spectral resolution with the unmatched spatial resolution provided by the VLTI. Because of the spatially unresolved central OBA-type star, with roughly neutral colour terms, their gaseous environments are among the easiest objects to be observed with AMBER, yet the extent and kinematics of the line emission regions are of high astrophysical interest.

Central to Zeldovich's attempts to understand the origin of cosmological structure was his exploration of the fluid dynamical effects in the primordial gas, and how the baryonic dark matter formed. Unfortunately microlensing searches for condensed objects in the foreground of the Magellanic Clouds were flawed by the assumption that the objects would be uniformly (Gaussian) distributed, and because the cadence of daily observations strongly disfavored detection of planet mass microlenses. But quasar microlensing showed them to exist at planetary mass at the same time that a hydro-gravitational theory predicted the planet-mass population as fossils of turbulence at the time of recombination (z = 1100; Gibson 1996, 2001). Where the population has now been detected from MACHO searches to the LMC (Sumi et al. 2011) we compare the quasar microlensing results to the recent determination of the mass distribution function measured for the planetary mass function, and show that the population can account for the baryonic dark matter.

We develop the requirements and potential of spectropolarimetry as applied to understanding the physics of massive stars during the immediate, intermediate-term and long-term future.