| Abstract: | We summarize the results of numerical simulations of colliding gas-rich disk galaxies in which the impact velocity is set
parallel to the spin axes of the two galaxies. The effects of varying the impact speed are studied with particular attention
to the resulting gaseous structures and shockwave patterns, and the time needed to produce these structures. The simulations
employ an N-body treatment of the stars and dark matter, together with an SPH treatment of the gas, in which all components
of the models are gravitationally active. The results indicate that for such impact geometries, collisions can lead to the
very rapid formation of a central, rapidly rotating, dense gas disk, and that in all cases extensive star formation is predicted
by the very high gas densities and prevalence of shocks, both in the nucleus and out in the galactic disks. As the dense nucleus
is forming, gas and stars are dispersed over very large volumes, and only fall back towards the nucleus over long times. In
the case of low impact velocities, this takes an order of magnitude more time than that needed for the formation of a dense
nucleus.
This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date. |
