Dr. Stefan Kautsch
University of Florida

University of Florida Astronomy Colloquium - Oct. 31st, 2007

Simple Disk Galaxies and other Morphologies

Disk galaxies are observed to have a wide distribution of bulge fractions, ranging from bulge-dominated systems to very late types with little or no bulge. Flat or superthin galaxies are particularly striking examples of the bulgeless extreme of this distribution, but the formation and evolution of these simple disk systems remains poorly understood. I present a study aimed at a better understanding of these enigmatic objects, which account for roughly a third of the population of edge-on spirals in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. I will show results pertaining to the environments of the simple disk systems compared to spirals with bulges as a means of exploring the relationship between environment and morphology. In the latter part of this talk I will review my recent work on galaxy morphologies in galaxy groups and clusters.