Two-armed grand-design spirals may form if the shape of its dark matter halo changes abruptly enough. The feasibility of such a mechanism is tested in realistic simulations. The interplay of such externally-driven spirals and self-induced transient spirals is then studied. Subhaloes are also found to lead to transient grand-design spiral structures when they impact the disk.

We derived a revised expression for the tidal radius, which is a theoretical boundary of a satellite orbiting a host. Our expression properly takes into account possible rotation of the satellite. We verified our predictions against simulations and obtained satisfactory agreement.

The stellar radial velocity dispersion profiles of elliptical galaxies can be well described by a power-law σ(r)∝r−β. We analyze a set of elliptical galaxies formed by major mergers of isolated disk galaxies with mass ratios of 1:1 and 3:1 for several orbital configurations (Johansson et al. 2009). The galaxies in our sample show a deviation from the power-law at 1 − 3Reff, which we term the σ-bump (Schauer et al. 2014). This feature is most prominent in remnants of 1:1 mergers and weakens for remnants of mergers with smaller mass ratios, indicating that the σ-bump is a signature of an equal mass merger. The σ-bump does not vanish with time but stays constant once it has formed, in contrast to shells. It can be seen under all projections, making it an observable feature in the outskirts of elliptical galaxies. We indeed identify three possible σ-bump candidates in the sample of 12 SLUGGS-survey ellipticals studied by Pota et al. (2013), who use globular clusters as tracers for the outer stellar halos (see Schauer et al. 2014, for more details). For further comparisons, we here provide for the first time a two dimensional map of the velocity dispersion of one simulated σ-bump galaxy, to identify the σ-bump in observations of kinematic maps out to several Reff. The σ-bump appears as a global ring-like feature if seen face-on and as an extended box-like feature in its edge-on projection.

In several grand design barred-spiral galaxies it is observed a second, fainter, outer set of spiral arms. Typical examples of objects of this morphology can be considered NGC 1566 and NGC 5248. I suggest that such an overall structure can be the result of two dynamical mechanisms acting in the disc. The bar and both spiral systems rotate with the same pattern speed. The inner spiral is reinforced by regular orbits trapped around the stable, elliptical, periodic orbits of the central family, while the outer system of spiral arms is supported by chaotic orbits. Chaotic orbits are also responsible for a rhomboidal area surrounding the inner barred-spiral region. In general there is a discontinuity between the two spiral structures at the corotation region.

We focused on the stellar age-velocity dispersion relation (AVR). We performed the N-body/SPH simulations to investigate the origin of AVR. As a results, we found that AVR is not consistent with simple stellar heating.

We study fundamental properties of transonic galactic outflows in the gravitational potential of a cold dark matter halo (DMH) with a central super-massive black hole (SMBH) assuming a polytropic, steady and spherically symmetric state. We have classified the transonic solutions with respect to their topology in the phase space. As a result, we have found two types of transonic solutions characterized by a magnitude relationship between the gravity of DMH and that of SMBH. These two types of solutions have different loci of the transonic points; one transonic point is formed at a central region (< 0.01kpc) and another is at a distant region (> 100kpc). Also, mass fluxes and outflow velocities are different between the two solutions. These two transonic solutions may play different roles on the star formation history of galaxies and the metal contamination of intergalactic space. Furthermore, we have applied our model to the Sombrero galaxy. In this galaxy, the wide-spread hot gas is detected as an apparent trace of galactic outflows while the star-formation rate is disproportionately low, and the observed gas density distribution is quite similar to the hydrostatic state (Li et al. 2011). To solve this discrepancy, we propose a slowly accelerating outflow in which the transonic point forms in a distant region (~ 120 kpc) and the subsonic region spreads across the stellar distribution. In the subsonic region, the gas density distribution is similar to that of the hydrostatic state. Our model predicts the possibility of the slowly accelerating outflow in the Sombrero galaxy. Igarashi et al. 2014 used the isothermal model and well reproduced the observed gas density distribution, but the estimated mass flux (1.8M⊙/yr) is lager than the mass of the gas supplied by stars (0.3-0.4M⊙/yr). Then, we expect that the polytropic model may reproduce the observational mass of the supplied gas (Igarashi et al. 2015). Such slowly accelerating outflows should be distinguished from the conventional supersonic outflows frequently argued in star-forming galaxies.

Using the eagle cosmological simulation of galaxy formation we test the ability of the ΛCDM cosmological model to reproduce the Tully-Fisher relation (TFR) and its redshift evolution. We find that our simulated galaxies follow a TFR that is in good agreement with observed results up to z = 1, indicating no evolution in the slope and a weak decrease in the zero-point.

We propose a qualitative explanation for the light radial profile of a spiral galaxy based on the quantitative magnetic model of truncations (Battaner et al. 2002) in which when stars are born (hence the magnetic force acting on the progenitor gas cloud is no longer at work) migrate to larger orbits or escape.

It is well known that the interaction between two disk galaxies generates tidal spiral arms and a connection in the form of a bridge. Here we address the question of the formation of tidal arms and bridges from a dynamical point of view. We model the bridges and tails observed in interacting galaxies using the invariant manifolds associated to the Lyapunov orbits of the Lagrangian points of the galactic system, when the two galaxies are considered as two point masses in a circular orbit.

The origin of spiral structure in disks of galaxies remains an open question. One of the theories predicts that two-armed, grand design spiral arms originate from tidal interactions with another body. Using N-body simulations we find that a Milky Way-like galaxy can develop spiral arms due to tidal force from a cluster-size dark matter halo.

We present a study exploring the reliability of recovering the mass and velocity anisotropy profiles of dark matter haloes using the Schwarzschild method of modeling galaxies.

We use semi-analytic models of galaxy formation L-Galaxies based on ΛCDM cosmology to study the HI gas component in galaxy outskirts. We adopt the radially-resolved version of the models by Fu et al. (2013), which includes both atomic and molecular gas component in interstellar medium. This model has been recently updated by Luo et al. (2016) to include cold gas stripping in the outer disk regions of the satellite galaxies by ram pressure. In our models, we can perfectly reproduce the HI size-mass relation, which is discovered by Broeils & Rhee (1997) and confirmed by many subsequent observations. In our model, the reason for such tight correlation between HI size and mass is atomic-molecular phase conversion in high gas surface density regions while HI ionization in low gas surface density region, which leads to very narrow distribution of HI mean surface density. The models also reproduce the universal exponential HI radial profiles in galaxy outskirts found by Bluedisk (Wang et al. 2013), which arises from cold gas accretion onto the galaxy disks in exponentially profiles.

We present an evolutionary model for the origin of Andromeda II, a dwarf spheroidal satellite of M31. The model is an extension of the scenario proposed by Łokas et al. (2014) involving a major merger between two gas-rich disky dwarf galaxies.

In this work we study the effect of satellite accretion on the building-up of the radial stellar age distribution in the discs of spiral galaxies. In addition, we analyse its effect on other chemical and dynamical properties of these systems up to their outskirts.

CALIFA data show that isolated disk galaxies present a common gas-phase metallicity gradient, with a characteristic slope of -0.1dex/re between 0.3 and 2 disk effective radius re (Sanchez et al. 2014). Here we construct a simple model to investigate which processes regulate the formation and evolution.

We describe the challenges inherent to low surface brightness imaging and present some early results from the Dragonfly Nearby Galaxies survey. Wide field, ultra-low surface brightness imaging (μg > 31 mag arcsec−2) of the first eight galaxies in the survey reveals a rich variety in the distribution of stars in the outskirts of luminous nearby galaxies. The mean stellar halo mass fraction is 0.009 ± 0.005 with a peak-to-peak scatter of a factor of > 100. Some galaxies in the sample feature strongly structured halos resembling that of M31, but three of the eight galaxies have halos that are completely undetected in our data. We conclude that spiral galaxies as a class exhibit a rich variety in stellar halo properties, implying that their assembly histories have been highly non-uniform. While the outskirts of some galaxies are dominated by halos with the rich substructures predicted by numerical simulations, in other cases the outermost parts of galaxies are simply the extrapolated smooth starlight from enormous stellar disks that closely trace neutral gas morphology out to around 20 scale lengths.

I present an overview of the recent star formation activity in the outer disks of spiral galaxies, from the observational standpoint, with emphasis on the gas content, the star formation law, the metallicity and the stellar populations.

We show how present-day 10 meter class telescopes can provide broadband imaging 1.5-2 mag deeper than most previous results within a reasonable amount of time ( ~ 8h on source integration). We illustrate the ability of the 10.4 m Gran Telescopio de Canarias (GTC) telescope to produce imaging with a limiting surface brightness of 31.5 mag/arcsec2 (3σ in 10 × 10 arcsec boxes). We explore the stellar halos of nearby galaxies obtaining surface brightness radial profiles down to μr ~ 33 mag/arcsec2. This depth is similar to that obtained using star counts techniques of Local Group galaxies, but is achieved at a distance where this technique is unfeasible.

We present the MUSE Atlas of Disks (MAD), a GTO program with the MUSE spectrograph on the ESO/VLT that is dedicated to the study of the optical spectroscopic properties of z = 0 disk galaxies on the star-forming ‘Main Sequence’ at < 100 pc physical resolution. MUSE pointings on the MAD galaxies extend out to ~ 2 disk scale lengths, enabling to investigate the bulge and inner disk properties of galaxies with different outer disks. Here we specifically compare, at constant stellar-mass, the stellar population properties of the inner components in disks with down-bending (Type II) and up-bending (Type III) outer profiles. We highlight similarities in the inner stellar properties of such different hosts, which point at a universal inside-out growth of disks, as well as differences which suggest an additional role of stellar migration and/or gas accretion in the growth of disk galaxies with an outer up-bending profile, as expected from theoretical models.

The HI in galaxies often extends past their conventionally defined optical extent. I report results from our team which has been probing low intensity star formation in outer disks using imaging in Hα and ultraviolet. Using a sample of hundreds of HI selected galaxies, we confirm that outer disk HII regions and extended UV disks are common. Hence outer disks are not dormant but are dimly forming stars. Although the ultraviolet light in galaxies is more centrally concentrated than the HI, the UV/HI ratio (the Star Formation Efficiency) is nearly constant, with a slight dependency on surface brightness. This result is well accounted for in a model where disks maintain a constant stability parameter Q. This model also accounts for how the ISM and star formation are distributed in the bright parts of galaxies, and how HI appears to trace the distribution of dark matter in galaxy outskirts.