New Analytic Solutions for Galaxy Evolution: Gas, Stars, Metals and Dust
  in local Early-Type Galaxies and in their high-z Starforming Progenitors
  We present a set of new analytic solutions aimed at self-consistently
describing the spatially-averaged time evolution of the gas, stellar, metal,
and dust content in an individual starforming galaxy hosted within a dark halo
of given mass and formation redshift. Then, as an application, we show that our
solutions, when coupled to specific prescriptions for parameter setting
(inspired by in-situ galaxy-black hole coevolution scenarios) and merger rates
(based on numerical simulations), can be exploited to reproduce the main
statistical relationships followed by early-type galaxies and by their
high-redshift starforming progenitors. Our analytic solutions allow to easily
disentangle the diverse role of the main physical processes regulating galaxy
formation, to quickly explore the related parameter space, and to make
transparent predictions on spatially-averaged quantities. As such, our analytic
solutions may provide a basis for improving the (subgrid) physical recipes
presently implemented in theoretical approaches and numerical simulations, and
can offer a benchmark for interpreting and forecasting current and future
broadband observations of high-redshift starforming galaxies.
