N-body simulations of dissipationless galaxy formation

We study the dissipationless collapse scenario for galaxy formation with the help of high-resolution numerical simulations realized with our parallel N-body code FVFPS. In accordance with previous studies, we find that the structural properties of the simulation end-products are consistent with those of real elliptical galaxies. In particular, in the central regions the final surface density distributions are characterized by flat cores, whose size is correlated with the initial virial ratio. Similar cores are observed in the surface brightness profiles of the so-called `core' elliptical galaxies. We conclude that dissipationless collapse is a plausible alternative to the binary black hole scenario as origin of the observed cores.