IAUS295 -- The Intriguing Life of Massive Galaxies: Introducing the Final Discussion

Alvio Renzini

Published 2012-10-20Version 1

This is a brief introduction to the closing discussion of the IAU Symposium 295, "The Intriguing Life of Massive Galaxies", that was held in Beijing from August 27 through 31, 2012. The discussion was focused on only four hot items, namely 1) the redshift evolution of the size of passively evolving galaxies, 2) the evolution with redshift of the specific star formation rate, 3) quenching of star formation in galaxies and dry merging, and 4) the IMF.