Galaxy disc heating as a result of minor mergers

Tapia, M. T.; Balcells, M.; Eliche-Moral, M. C.
Bibliographical reference

Stellar Populations – Planning for the Next Decade, Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union, IAU Symposium, Volume 262, p. 432-433

Advertised on:
4
2010
Number of authors
3
IAC number of authors
2
Citations
2
Refereed citations
2
Description
We perform a sample of N-body simulations of a minor merger between a Milky Way type galaxy and a satellite, which is density scaled version of the primary galaxy. In this suite of collisionless runs we change the value of some critical parameters like the luminous mass ratio between the two galaxies (1 : 6, 1 : 9), the type of orbit (direct or prograde) and the number of particles (185,000, 555,000 and 1,850,000). We estimate the disc thickening by measuring the median of the vertical scale and we find that that the merger increases the scale height in a factor of ≈2 in all the remnants.