Dynamics, Dust, and Young Stars – Computer Simulations of Merging Galaxies
Research report (imported) 2006 - Max Planck Institute for Astronomy
Summary
During close encounters or collisions of galaxies huge tidal forces occur that whirl up and compress the dust and gas in the galaxies. This induces a steep increase of star formation. With the help of computer simulations, it was shown how the star formation rate, dust absorption, and observed appearance of the galaxy change during a merger and an analytical formula was derived which can be used to predict the dust absorption.