Abstract
AbstractThere is growing evidence suggesting that massive galaxies have growth both in mass and size mainly by the accretion of smaller satellites. This evolutionary path qualitative explains many different observations. However, there is still much work to do on trying to quantify whether this merging scenario is enough to explain the significant growth of massive galaxies since z~2. In this contribution, we show that both the number of satellite galaxies around massive galaxies at all redshifts, and the existence of massive relic galaxies in the nearby Universe are in quantitative agreement with this merging picture. Nonetheless, there is still open questions related to the properties of the stellar halos of present-day massive galaxies and the number density of massive relics at all redshifts that remain open.
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