13 October 2005

Speaker: Giuseppe Gavazzi (Universita' degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca)

Title: The Evolution of Evolved Galaxies

Abstract: With the advent of 10m class telescopes we can hope that galaxy evolution, i.e. the shaping of the Hubble sequence in various environments, will shortly be disclosed observationally. This is much as in a rewound movie taken along the ``fossil'' sequence, from today's fully evolved nearby galaxies to the objects forming their first stars far away in space and time. However, high-resolution information on the whole luminosity range covered by galaxies is obtainable only at z=0. The end point of the evolution is within the reach of modern telescopes. Less evolved galaxies can only be observed, with lower resolution, if they are significantly more luminous. Dwarf galaxies, Ims, BCDs and dEs, by far the most common types of galaxies in the universe, yet the least understood, can only be observed locally. This is why studying nearby galaxies is still a worthwhile activity. After 25 years dedicated to observing nearby, evolved galaxies I will review some results obtained on galaxy evolution, above all the dependence of most stellar population indicators on the global galaxy mass. I will also review some features specific to galaxies in nearby clusters that help us understand their morphological transformations.

Video of the Presentation (Talks can be viewed with RealPlayer. Free download is available from www.real.com )