The Formation of Galactic Bulges

Bulges lie at the center of spiral galaxies. Until recently, they were thought to host uniquely old stellar populations and thus provide a key for understanding galaxy formation. Recent observations from the ground and space have drastically changed our view on the nature of bulges and shown that they can also contain dust, gas, and star-forming regions. This timely volume presents review articles by a panel of international experts who gathered at a conference at the Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, to address several fundamental questions: What is a bulge? When and how did bulges form? And, on what timescales? This volume provides a state-of-the-art picture of our new understanding of these fundamental building-blocks of galaxies, and a stimulating reference point for all those interested in galaxy formation.

Spis treści:
Part I. Introduction, What are galactic bulges?
Part II. The Epoch of Bulge Formation, Origin of bulges
Deep sub-mm surveys, High-z ULIRGs and the formation of spheroids
Ages and metallicities for stars in the galactic bulge
Integrated stellar populations of bulges, First results
HST-NICMOS observations of galactic bulges, Ages and dust
Inside-out bulge formation and the origin of the Hubble sequence
Part III. The Timescales of Bulge Formation, Constraints on the bulge formation timescale from stellar populations
Bulge building with mergers and winds
Role of winds, starbursts, and activity in bulge formation
Dynamical timescales of bulge formation
Part IV. Physical Processes in Bulge Formation, the role of bars for secular bulge formation
Bars and boxy/peanut-shaped bulges, an observational point of view
Boxy- and peanut-shaped bulges
A new class of bulges
The role of secondary bars in bulge formation
Radial transport of molecular gas to the nuclei of spiral galaxies
Dynamical evolution of bulge shapes
Two-component stellar systems, Phase-space constraints
Central NGC 2146 - a firehose-type bending instability?
Bulge formation, the role of the multi-phase ISM
Global evolution of a self-gravitating multi-phase ISM in the central kpc region of galaxies
Part V. Bulge Phenomenology, Bulge-disk decomposition of spiral galaxies in the near-infrared
The triaxial bulge of NGC 1371
The bulge-disk orthogonal decoupling in galaxies, NGC 4698 and NGC 4672
The kinematics and the origin of the ionized gas in NGC 4036
Optically thin thermal plasma in the galactic bulge
X-ray properties of bulges
The host galaxies of radio-loud AGN
The centers of radio-loud early-type galaxies with HST
Central UV spikes in two galactic spheroids
Conference summary, where do we stand?