Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias

Over the last 10 Gyrs, massive galaxies suffer strong evolution in terms of number density, structure and star formation activity. While current models of galaxy formation and evolution do a good job in describing the evolution of such properties in a general sense, problems remain: We can not reproduce with precision the luminosity function of galaxies at z~1, implying that we are missing something critical about the star formation history of the population as a whole. Recent hydro simulation make emphasis on the role that the accretion of cold gas from the cosmic web could have in the build-up of stellar mass at z>1 through episodes of violent star formation in Toomre-unstable clumpy/chain disk galaxies, and subsequent quenching of the star formation activity, in halos below the critical mass where shock heating would prevail (~10¹² Msun). In my talk, I will show my (biased) perspective of some of the most relevant issues in massive galaxy evolution from the work my collaborators and I have done over the last few years, and will present preliminary results on the role of cold flow-fed star formation in the formation of bulge-dominated galaxies at z~2 from recent HST/WFC3 NIR CANDELS data.