Simulations of merging galaxies
Thesis/Dissertation
·
OSTI ID:6846192
A large number of numerical simulations of merging disk-halo galaxies has been performed for a wide variety of initial conditions and parameter choices. The disks of these galaxies contain a ''gaseous'' component which, using a newly developed algorithm, is modelled as a collection of variable radius spheres capable of undergoing inelastic collisions. Galaxies on initially bound or marginally unbound orbits interact strongly and eventually merge; the details of this interaction and the properties of merger remnants are studied extensively. The remnants are ellipsoidal and have a wide range of principal axis flattenings which depend on the pericentric distance of the initial orbit and on the orientation of the initial disk spins; they show r/sup -2/ projected ''luminosity'' profiles and flat rotation curves, in agreement with observations of elliptical galaxies. If elliptical galaxies are remnants of such mergers, the low observed rotation velocities then suggest a preponderance of low angular momentum mergers; if this is the case, the results favor the hypothesis that elliptical galaxies are intrinsically prolate or triaxial.
- Research Organization:
- California Univ., Berkeley (USA)
- OSTI ID:
- 6846192
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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