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Dissipationless Formation of Elliptical Galaxies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 August 2017

Simon D.M. White
Simon D.M. White*
Affiliation:
Steward Observatory, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, U.S.A.

Abstract

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Dissipationless formation mechanisms envisage elliptical galaxies as arising from the collective relaxation of an aggregate of stars. Their key ingredients are thus a set of initial conditions derived from consideration of prior evolution, and a treatment of the relaxation process. I review numerical studies of violent relaxation carried out over the last decade and purely theoretical treatments going back twice as far. Relaxation is always incomplete, and as a result the final structure of a “galaxy” depends sensitively on the initial conditions assumed. The viability of dissipationless formation thus rests on the identification of plausible stellar initial conditions which relax to the present structure. I discuss the extent to which such initial conditions are compatible with current ideas on the origin of structure in the universe.

Type
Invited Reviews
Information
Symposium - International Astronomical Union , Volume 127: Structure and Dynamics of Elliptical Galaxies , 1987 , pp. 339 - 351
Copyright
Copyright © Reidel 1987 

References

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