The origin of morphological types of galaxies
O.K. Silchenko
Lomonosov Moscow State University, Shternberg State Astronomical Institute, Universitetskii prosp. 13, Moscow, 119234, Russian Federation
Galaxies in the modern Universe demonstrate very diverse shapes. They can be one-component stellar spheroids
(elliptical galaxies) or complex systems including compact stellar spheroids in the centers and extended
flat stellar disks (spiral and lenticular galaxies). The morphology of the galaxies is related with other
physical parameters: rotation velocities, current star formation rates, and stellar population ages. The
problem of morphological type origin is persistently discussed for the last hundred years, and the dominant
paradigm changes every time. Last years it becomes clear that the main agent of galaxy evolution is non-stop
outer matter accretion; hence it is just the time to associate the morphological type origin with the properties
of this outer accretion and with its secular change during billion years of the Universe evolution.
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