Abstract
Dissipationless formation mechanisms envisage elliptical galaxies as arising from the collective relaxation of an aggregate of stars. Their key ingredients are thus a set of initial conditions derived from consideration of prior evolution, and a treatment of the relaxation process. I review numerical studies of violent relaxation carried out over the last decade and purely theoretical treatments going back twice as far. Relaxation is always incomplete, and as a result the final structure of a “galaxy” depends sensitively on the initial conditions assumed. The viability of dissipationless formation thus rests on the identification of plausible stellar initial conditions which relax to the present structure. I discuss the extent to which such initial conditions are compatible with current ideas on the origin of structure in the universe.
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White, S.D.M. (1987). Dissipationless Formation of Elliptical Galaxies. In: De Zeeuw, T. (eds) Structure and Dynamics of Elliptical Galaxies. International Astronimical Union, vol 127. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-3971-4_28
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-3971-4_28
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