Colour gradients of high-redshift Early-Type Galaxies from
  hydrodynamical monolithic models
  We analyze the evolution of colour gradients predicted by the hydrodynamical
models of early type galaxies (ETGs) in Pipino et al. (2008), which reproduce
fairly well the chemical abundance pattern and the metallicity gradients of
local ETGs. We convert the star formation (SF) and metal content into colours
by means of stellar population synthetic model and investigate the role of
different physical ingredients, as the initial gas distribution and content,
and eps_SF, i.e. the normalization of SF rate. From the comparison with high
redshift data, a full agreement with optical rest-frame observations at z < 1
is found, for models with low eps_SF, whereas some discrepancies emerge at 1 <
z < 2, despite our models reproduce quite well the data scatter at these
redshifts. To reconcile the prediction of these high eps_SF systems with the
shallower colour gradients observed at lower z we suggest intervention of 1-2
dry mergers. We suggest that future studies should explore the impact of wet
galaxy mergings, interactions with environment, dust content and a variation of
the Initial Mass Function from the galactic centers to the peripheries.
