Galaxy formation from dry and hydro simulations

TL;DR

This paper investigates how dry and wet mergers influence the scaling laws of elliptical galaxies, suggesting that these laws are established early and remain compatible with some mergers at later times.

Contribution

It introduces a model explaining the impact of dry and wet mergers on galaxy scaling laws, emphasizing their early establishment and subsequent evolution.

Findings

Galaxy scaling laws are likely established at high redshift.

These laws remain compatible with a small number of mergers at lower redshift.

Fast collapse of gas-rich distributions plays a key role in early galaxy formation.

Abstract

The effects of dry and wet merging on the Scaling Laws (SLs) of elliptical galaxies (Es) are discussed. It is found that the galaxy SLs, possibly established at high redshift by the fast collapse of gas-rich and clumpy stellar distributions in preexisting dark matter halos following the cosmological SLs, are compatible with a (small) number of galaxy mergers at lower redshift.