Related papers: Modeling Merging Galaxies using MINGA - Improving …
Motivated by the closest major merger, the Antennae Galaxies (NGC4038/4039), we want to improve our genetic algorithm based modeling code Minga (Theis 1999). The aim is to reveal the major interaction and galaxy parameters, e.g. orbital…
Detailed models of observed interacting galaxies suffer from the extended parameter space. Here, we present results from our code MINGA which couples an evolutionary optimization strategy (a genetic algorithm) with a fast N-body method.…
Thin stellar discs on both galactic and nuclear, sub-kpc scales are believed to be fragile structures that would be easily destroyed in major mergers. In turn, this makes the age-dating of their stellar populations a useful diagnostics for…
In this paper I focus on three topics related to the dynamical evolution of small galaxy groups, for which the input of N-body simulations has been decisive. These are the merging rates in compact groups, the properties of remnants of…
The dynamical history of most merging galaxies is not well understood. Correlations between galaxy interaction and star formation have been found in previous studies, but require the context of the physical history of merging systems for…
The main problems in modeling interacting galaxies are the extended parameter space and the fairly high CPU costs of self-consistent N-body simulations. Therefore, traditional modeling techniques suffer from either extreme CPU demands or…
Gas-poor galaxies can be modelled as composite collisionless stellar systems, with a dark matter halo and one or more stellar components, representing different stellar populations. The dynamical evolution of such composite systems is often…
The "gravitational million-body problem," to model the dynamical evolution of a self-gravitating, collisional N-body system with ~10^6 particles over many relaxation times, remains a major challenge in computational astrophysics.…
(abridged) We combined several N-body methods in order to investigate the interaction scenario between NGC 4449 and DDO 125, a close companion in projected space. In a first step fast restricted N-body models are used to confine a region in…
I review the Marseille GRAPE systems and the N-body simulations done with them. I first describe briefly the available hardware and software, their possibilities and their limitations. I then describe work done on interacting galaxies and…
The LCDM model is the most commonly admitted to describe our Universe. In spite of a great success with regard to the large scale structure formation, some problems are still unresolved at galactic scales. Alternative scenarios have to be…
We describe some results obtained with N-MODY, a code for N-body simulations of collisionless stellar systems in modified Newtonian dynamics (MOND). We found that a few fundamental dynamical processes are profoundly different in MOND and in…
We compare N-body simulations performed in MOND with analogs in Newtonian gravity with dark matter (DM). We have developed a code which solves the Poisson equation in both gravity models. It is a grid solver using adaptive mesh refinement…
Using N-body simulations we study the structures induced on a galactic disc by repeated flybys of a companion in decaying eccentric orbit around the disc. Our system is composed by a stellar disc, bulge and live dark matter halo, and we…
The stability of a galaxy model is most easily assessed through N-body simulation. Particle-mesh codes have been widely used for this purpose, since they enable the largest numbers of particles to be employed. We show that the functional…
With the goal to refine modelling of shell galaxies and the use of shells to probe the merger history, we develop a new method for implementing dynamical friction in test-particle simulations of radial minor mergers. The friction is…
We present recent updates and improvements of the graphical processing unit (GPU) N-body code GENGA. Modern state-of-the-art simulations of planet formation require the use of a very high number of particles to accurately resolve planetary…
We describe an open source GPU implementation of a hybrid symplectic N-body integrator, GENGA (Gravitational ENcounters with Gpu Acceleration), designed to integrate planet and planetesimal dynamics in the late stage of planet formation and…
In this chapter, we summarize the underlying numerical methods needed for efficient $N$-body integration of planetary systems. We discuss how symplectic integrators have been developed to tackle the complementary problems of long-term…
(abridged) Several N-body methods were combined in order to develop a method for the determination of the parameters of interacting galaxies. This method has been applied to the HI distribution of NGC4449. In a first step the fast…