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M. Wetzstein, T. Naab, A. Burkert (University-Observatory, Munich, Germany)
We present latest results of high resolution N-body / SPH simulations of the formation of tidal dwarf galaxies (TDGs). Making use of a large resolution study of merging spiral galaxies, we show that in pure N-body simulations the formation of massive objects along the tidal tails of such interacting systems is completely suppressed, provided that the resolution of the simulation is high enough. The resolution of the disk component of the progenitor galaxy is most important in this respect. These results are robust against variation of the gravitational softening length. In a second set of full hydrodynamical simulations, we investigate the importance of a gas component in the progenitor galaxy for the formation of TDGs during the merger. We test several different initial gas distributions and find that massive and / or extended gas disks are required for TDG formation. The most massive objects formed in the tidal tails are analyzed similar to observational data in order to obtain surface brightness and kinematical profiles. Our results are compared to observations.
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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 37 #4
© 2005. The American Astronomical Soceity.