ANGULAR-MOMENTUM LOSS DURING THE FORMATION OF ELLIPTIC GALAXIES

By comparing the observed specific angular momentum af a sample af ell iptical galaxies with that derived by Barnes and Efstathiou (1987) by means of a specific N-body simulation (their CO-4 Model), we find that during the collapse, the luminous components of the galaxies must hav e transferred to the halo from similar to 70% to similar to 90% of the initial angular momentum according to assumed density ratios of dynam ical to dark matter. The difficulties in the theoretical interpretatio ns of this angular momentum loss are pointed out.