IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/nature/v455y2008i7216d10.1038_nature07366.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Galaxies appear simpler than expected

Author

Listed:
  • M. J. Disney

    (School of Physics & Astronomy, Cardiff University, 5 The Parade, Cardiff CF24 3AA, UK)

  • J. D. Romano

    (School of Physics & Astronomy, Cardiff University, 5 The Parade, Cardiff CF24 3AA, UK
    The University of Texas at Brownsville, 80 Fort Brown, Brownsville, Texas 78520, USA)

  • D. A. Garcia–Appadoo

    (School of Physics & Astronomy, Cardiff University, 5 The Parade, Cardiff CF24 3AA, UK
    European Southern Observatory, Alonso de Cordova 3107, Casilla 19001, Vitacura, Santiago 19, Chile)

  • A. A. West

    (University of California, 601 Campbell Hall, Berkeley, California 94720-3411, USA
    Physics-Astronomy Building C309, University of Washington, Box 351580, Seattle, Washington 98195, USA)

  • J. J. Dalcanton

    (Physics-Astronomy Building C309, University of Washington, Box 351580, Seattle, Washington 98195, USA)

  • L. Cortese

    (School of Physics & Astronomy, Cardiff University, 5 The Parade, Cardiff CF24 3AA, UK)

Abstract

Galactic structure: a simple answer At first glance a galaxy looks pretty complicated: each contains billions of stars subject to many influences including gravity, rotation and radiation. The hierarchical theory of galaxy formation — currently fashionable — holds that they are assembled from smaller pieces, through many mergers of cold dark matter, and that the properties of an individual galaxy are determined by six independent parameters. Now a survey of 200 individual galaxies suggests that things are simpler than that, and that galactic structure is controlled by one single parameter. Though frustratingly, it is not yet clear which parameter that is. This level of organization is at odds with hierarchical galaxy formation and the predictions of cold dark matter cosmology.

Suggested Citation

  • M. J. Disney & J. D. Romano & D. A. Garcia–Appadoo & A. A. West & J. J. Dalcanton & L. Cortese, 2008. "Galaxies appear simpler than expected," Nature, Nature, vol. 455(7216), pages 1082-1084, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:455:y:2008:i:7216:d:10.1038_nature07366
    DOI: 10.1038/nature07366
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/nature07366
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/nature07366?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:455:y:2008:i:7216:d:10.1038_nature07366. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.