Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-g8jcs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-04T04:31:33.134Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Galaxy Formation: Some Comparisons between Theory and Observation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 August 2017

S. Michael Fall*
Affiliation:
Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge, England.

Extract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Before theoretical ideas in this subject can be compared with observational data, it is necessary to consider the properties of galaxies that are likely to be relics of their formation. Most astronomers would agree that the list of important parameters should be headed by the total mass M, energy E and angular momentum J. Next on the list should probably be the relative contributions to these quantities from the disc and bulge components of galaxies and denoted D/B for the mass ratio. They can be estimated from the median (i.e. half-mass) radius R, velocity dispersion σ and rotation velocity v of each component, either through the virial theorem or through the luminosity L and an assumed value of M/L. As a first approximation, it is reasonable to suppose that galaxies of a given disc-to-bulge ratio or morphological type form a sequence with mass as the fundamental parameter. The comparison of theory with data is further simplified by considering the extreme cases of ellipticals, with D/B << 1, and late-type spirals, with D/B >> 1. The approach outlined below is to explore the consequences of relaxing in succession the constraints that E, J and M be conserved during the collapse of proto-galaxies. In this article I concentrate on theories that are based on some form of hierarchical clustering because the pancake and related theories are not yet refined enough for a detailed confrontation with observations.

Type
VII. Galaxy Formation
Copyright
Copyright © Reidel 1983 

References

Aarseth, S.J. & Binney, J., 1978. Mon. Not. Roy. Astr. Soc., 185, 227.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Binney, J. & Silk, J., 1978, Comm. Astr. Astrophys., 7, 139.Google Scholar
Burstein, D. & Sarazin, C.L., 1982, Astrophys. J., in press.Google Scholar
Davies, R.L., Efstathiou, G., Fall, S.M., Illingworth, G. & Schechter, P.L., 1982. Astrophys. J., in press.Google Scholar
Dressler, A., 1980. Astrophys. J., 236, 351.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Efstathiou, G. & Jones, B.J.T., 1979. Mon. Not. Roy. Astr. Soc., 186, 133.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eggen, O.J., Lynden-Bell, D. & Sandage, A., 1962. Astrophys. J., 136, 748.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Faber, S.M., 1982. in “Astrophysical Cosmology”, eds. Brück, H.A., Coyne, G. V. & Longair, M.S., Pontificia Academia Scientarium, Vatican, p.191.Google Scholar
Fall, S.M., 1979. Rev. Mod. Phys., 51, 21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fall, S.M., 1981. in “The Structure and Evolution of Normal Galaxies”, eds. Fall, S.M. & Lynden-Bell, D., Cambridge University Press, p.1.Google Scholar
Fall, S.M. & Efstathiou, G., 1980. Mon. Not. Roy. Astr. Soc., 193, 189.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Freeman, K.C., 1970. Astrophys. J., 160, 811.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gunn, J.E., 1982. in “Astrophysical Cosmology”, eds. Brück, H.A., Coyne, G. V. & Longair, M.S., Pontificia Academia Scientarium, Vatican, p.233.Google Scholar
Kashlinski, A., 1982. Mon. Not. Roy. Astr. Soc., 200, 585.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Larson, R.B., Tinsley, B.M. & Caldwell, C.N., 1980. Astrophys. J., 237, 692.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peebles, P.J.E., 1969. Astrophys. J., 155, 393.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peebles, P.J.E., 1980. “The Large-Scale Structure of the Universe”, Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Rubin, V.C., Ford, W.K. & Thonnard, N., 1980. Astrophys. J., 238, 471.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rubin, V.C., Ford, W.K., Thonnard, N. & Burstein, D., 1982. Astrophys. J., in press.Google Scholar
Sandage, A., Freeman, K.C. & Stokes, N.R., 1970. Astrophys. J., 160,831.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Silk, J. & Norman, C.A., 1981. Astrophys. J., 247, 59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tinsley, B.M., 1981. Mon. Not. Roy. Astr. Soc., 194, 63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tully, R.B. & Fisher, J.R., 1977. Astron. Astrophys., 54, 661.Google Scholar
van Albada, T.S., 1982. Mon. Not. Roy. Astr. Soc., in press.Google Scholar
White, S.D.M. & Rees, M.J., 1978. Mon. Not. Roy. Astr. Soc., 183, 341.CrossRefGoogle Scholar