Formation and evolution of galactic spheroids by mergers

Abstract

Galactic spheroids can form as a result of galaxy interactions and mergers of disks. Detailed analyses of the photometric properties, the intrinsic orbital structure, the line-of-sight velocity distributions and the kinemetry of simulated merger remnants, which depend critically on the geometry and the gas content of the interacting progenitors, indicate that low and intermediate mass rotating ellipticals can form from mergers of disks. The masses and metallicities of all massive ellipticals and the kinematics of some massive non-rotating ellipticals cannot be explained by binary mergers. Thus these galaxies might have formed in a different way.