Brightest cluster galaxies as probes of galaxy formation

Brightest group and cluster galaxies are the most massive galaxies in the Universe and reside at the centres of galaxy clusters. These galaxies push galaxy formation and evolution models to their limits, providing a strong test to our current paradigm of galaxy formation. This thesis studies important tracers of these galaxies' evolution, such as: their stellar mass growth across time, their star formation activity, their accretion histories and their angular momentum. Together the results establish a general picture of the life of massive galaxies, which can be compared to current galaxy models.