Towards an accurate model for the Antennae Galaxies

TL;DR

This paper presents high-resolution SPH simulations of the Antennae Galaxies, including star formation and feedback, to better understand their merging process and compare with observations.

Contribution

It introduces detailed numerical simulations of the Antennae Galaxies incorporating star formation and feedback, advancing galaxy merger modeling.

Findings

Achieved a close match to observed morphology and kinematics.

Demonstrated the importance of star formation and feedback in merger simulations.

Provided insights into the early stages of galaxy merging.

Abstract

In the framework of hierarchical structure formation ellipticals can form from merging of smaller disk galaxies. The nearby interacting 'Antennae' galaxy pair (NGC 4038/39) is one of the best-studied local systems of merging spirals, thus presenting us with an ideal laboratory for the study of galaxy evolution models. The Antennae are believed to be in a state prior to their final encounter with rapid subsequent merging, which puts them in the first position of the Toomre (1977) merger sequence. Here we present first numerical high-resolution, self-consistent, smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) simulations of the Antennae system, including star formation and stellar feedback, and compare our results to VLA HI observations by Hibbard et al. (2001). We are able to obtain a close, but not yet perfect match to the observed morphology and kinematics of the system.