Ignacio Trujillo
Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias

Abstract
The studies of the stellar halos is the last frontier on the exploration of the formation of the galaxies. This very subtle component of the galaxies retains information about the violence and hierarchy of the assembly of these objects. Theoretically, most of the stellar halo formation should have been produced at z>1 but, what is the observational evidence for supporting or diminishing this scenario? I will present the results of my team on the properties of stellar halos since z~1 and the most likely merging channels of massive galaxies since that epoch. Finally, I will show current efforts with the largest optical telescopes to reach extremely low (>31.5 mag/arcsec^2) surface brightness details and open the possibility of exploring stellar halos with an unprecedented level of accuracy.

2015 November 17, 15:00

IA/U.Lisboa
Observatório Astronómico de Lisboa (Seminar room)
Tapada da Ajuda, 1349-018 Lisboa