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One Moment in Time-Modeling Star Formation in the Antennae

Karl, Simon J. ; Naab, Thorsten ; Johansson, Peter H. LU ; Kotarba, Hanna ; Boily, Christian M. ; Renaud, Florent LU and Theis, Christian (2010) In apj 715(2). p.88-93
Abstract
We present a new high-resolution N-body/smoothed particle hydrodynamics simulation of an encounter of two gas-rich disk galaxies that closely matches the morphology and kinematics of the interacting Antennae galaxies (NGC 4038/39). The simulation includes radiative cooling, star formation, and feedback from Type II supernovae. The large-scale morphology and kinematics are determined by the internal structure and the orbit of the progenitor disks. The properties of the central region, in particular the starburst in the overlap region, only match the observations for a very short time interval (Δt ≈ 20 Myr) after the second encounter. This indicates that the Antennae galaxies are in a special phase only about 40 Myr after the second... (More)
We present a new high-resolution N-body/smoothed particle hydrodynamics simulation of an encounter of two gas-rich disk galaxies that closely matches the morphology and kinematics of the interacting Antennae galaxies (NGC 4038/39). The simulation includes radiative cooling, star formation, and feedback from Type II supernovae. The large-scale morphology and kinematics are determined by the internal structure and the orbit of the progenitor disks. The properties of the central region, in particular the starburst in the overlap region, only match the observations for a very short time interval (Δt ≈ 20 Myr) after the second encounter. This indicates that the Antennae galaxies are in a special phase only about 40 Myr after the second encounter and 50 Myr before their final collision. This is the only phase in the simulation when a gas-rich overlap region between the nuclei is forming accompanied by enhanced star formation. The star formation rate as well as the recent star formation history in the central region agree well with observational estimates. For the first time, this new model explains the distributed extra-nuclear star formation in the Antennae galaxies as a consequence of the recent second encounter. The proposed model predicts that the Antennae are in a later merger stage than the Mice (NGC 4676) and would therefore lose their first place in the classical Toomre sequence. (Less)
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author
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publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
galaxies: evolution, galaxies: individual: NGC 4038/39, galaxies: interactions, galaxies: star formation, methods: numerical, Astrophysics - Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
in
apj
volume
715
issue
2
pages
6 pages
external identifiers
  • scopus:77952865637
DOI
10.1088/2041-8205/715/2/L88
language
English
LU publication?
no
id
ebc2c9c2-e58f-4baa-97ef-cbbb01a90722
date added to LUP
2019-05-21 15:24:18
date last changed
2022-04-26 00:15:57
@article{ebc2c9c2-e58f-4baa-97ef-cbbb01a90722,
  abstract     = {{We present a new high-resolution N-body/smoothed particle hydrodynamics simulation of an encounter of two gas-rich disk galaxies that closely matches the morphology and kinematics of the interacting Antennae galaxies (NGC 4038/39). The simulation includes radiative cooling, star formation, and feedback from Type II supernovae. The large-scale morphology and kinematics are determined by the internal structure and the orbit of the progenitor disks. The properties of the central region, in particular the starburst in the overlap region, only match the observations for a very short time interval (Δt ≈ 20 Myr) after the second encounter. This indicates that the Antennae galaxies are in a special phase only about 40 Myr after the second encounter and 50 Myr before their final collision. This is the only phase in the simulation when a gas-rich overlap region between the nuclei is forming accompanied by enhanced star formation. The star formation rate as well as the recent star formation history in the central region agree well with observational estimates. For the first time, this new model explains the distributed extra-nuclear star formation in the Antennae galaxies as a consequence of the recent second encounter. The proposed model predicts that the Antennae are in a later merger stage than the Mice (NGC 4676) and would therefore lose their first place in the classical Toomre sequence.}},
  author       = {{Karl, Simon J. and Naab, Thorsten and Johansson, Peter H. and Kotarba, Hanna and Boily, Christian M. and Renaud, Florent and Theis, Christian}},
  keywords     = {{galaxies: evolution, galaxies: individual: NGC 4038/39, galaxies: interactions, galaxies: star formation, methods: numerical, Astrophysics - Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{06}},
  number       = {{2}},
  pages        = {{88--93}},
  series       = {{apj}},
  title        = {{One Moment in Time-Modeling Star Formation in the Antennae}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/715/2/L88}},
  doi          = {{10.1088/2041-8205/715/2/L88}},
  volume       = {{715}},
  year         = {{2010}},
}