Galaxy Scaling Relations: Origins, Evolution and Applications: Proceedings of the ESO Workshop Held at Garching, Germany, 18–20 November 1996 (ESO Astrophysics Symposia). Questo articolo non è disponibile.Galaxy Scaling Relations: Origins, Evolution and Applications: Proceedings of the ESO Workshop Held at Garching, Germany, 18–20 November 1996 (ESO Astrophysics Symposia)

At close inspection every galaxy appears to have its own individuality.A galaxy can be warped, lop-sided, doubly-nucleated, boxy or disky, ... in its own specific, peculiar way. Hence, for a complete description, galaxy taxonomy may ask for finer and finer classification schemes. However, for some applications it may be more fruitful to let details aside and focus on some global properties of galaxies. One is then seeking to measure just a few quantities for each galaxy, a minimum set of globalobservables that yet captures some essential aspect of these objects. One very successful example of this approach is offered by the scaling rela­ tions of galaxies, the subject of the international workshop held at ESO head­ quarters in Garching on November 19-21, 1996. Discovered in the late 1970's, the Tully-Fisher relation for the spirals and the Faber-Jackson relation, or its more recent version the Fundamental Plane, for ellipticals have now become flourishing fields of astronomical research in their own right, as well as being widely used tools for a broad range of astronomical investigations. The work­ shop was designed to address three key issues on galaxy scaling relations, i.e., their Origins, Evolution, and Applications in astronomy. The Origins of galaxy scaling relations still escape our full understanding.

This book is part of the ESO conference series meant to survey the current status of different areas of astronomical research and explore science opportunities with the European Very Large Telescope (VLT). The research presented focuses on the origins, evolution and applications of galaxy scaling relations. Reviews of the properties and scaling relations of local galaxies and several reports of recent results from observations of high redshift galaxies using the Hubble Space Telescope and the Keck Telescope are also included. Current theoretical efforts to explain the origin of the observed scaling relations and the contraints imposed by the new data, as well as the use of galaxy--galaxy lensing to probe the scaling properties of dark matter halos are investigated. The book includes contributions that consider the use of the scaling relations to measure distance of galaxies and map the peculiar velocity field of galaxies in the nearby universe, as well as the constraints imposed on cosmological models from the analysis of cosmic flows.