Forming bulges during galaxy minor mergers
Abstract
The hierarchical formation of structure suggests that dark halos, and the galaxies they host, are shaped by their merging history. While the idea that mergers between galaxies of equal mass, i.e., major merger, produce elliptical galaxies has received considerable attention, he galaxies that result from minor merger, i.e., mergers between galaxies with a large mass ratio, is much less understood. We have performed a large number of numerical simulations of minor mergers, including cooling, star formation, and black hole growth in order to study this process in more detail. This talk will present some preliminary results of this study, and in particular, the morphology and kinematics of minor merger remnants.
- Publication:
-
Formation and Evolution of Galaxy Bulges
- Pub Date:
- July 2008
- DOI:
- 10.1017/S1743921308017298
- Bibcode:
- 2008IAUS..245...63C
- Keywords:
-
- galaxies: bulges;
- galaxies: formation;
- galaxies: interaction