The evolution of the spiral galaxy M51a

A simple model for M51a is constructed to explore its evolutionary history by assuming its disk grows from continuous gas infall, which is shaped by a free parameter-the infall-peak time t _p. By adopting a constant infall-peak time t _p = 7.0Gyr, our model predictions can reproduce most of the observed constraints and still show that the disk of M51a forms inside-out. Our results also show that the current molecular gas surface density, the star-formation rate and the UV-band surface brightness are important quantities to trace the effect of recent interactions on galactic star-formation process.