Mass distribution in early-type galaxies

Dr Alabi’s thesis studied the relative mass distribution from stars and dark matter in early-type galaxies. The galaxy sample studied is unprecedented in size and the radial extent of kinematics data. The thesis made use of high quality data obtained from the Keck telescopes and compared results with predictions from state-of-the-art cosmological simulations. One key result of this work is the nature of the diversity of mass distribution in galaxies, far away from their centers. This has important implications in our understanding of how and when galaxies formed and how they have evolved in time.