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Minor mergers and their impact on the kinematics of galaxydiscs

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 February 2011

C. Turon ,
F. Meynadier ,
F. Arenou ,
P. Di Matteo ,
Y. Qu ,
M.D. Lehnert ,
W. van Driel  and
C.J. Jog
P. Di Matteo
Affiliation:
GÉPI, Observatoire de Paris, CNRS, Université Paris Diderot, 5 place Jules Janssen, 92190 Meudon, France
Y. Qu
Affiliation:
GÉPI, Observatoire de Paris, CNRS, Université Paris Diderot, 5 place Jules Janssen, 92190 Meudon, France
M.D. Lehnert
Affiliation:
GÉPI, Observatoire de Paris, CNRS, Université Paris Diderot, 5 place Jules Janssen, 92190 Meudon, France
W. van Driel
Affiliation:
GÉPI, Observatoire de Paris, CNRS, Université Paris Diderot, 5 place Jules Janssen, 92190 Meudon, France
C.J. Jog
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560012, India
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Abstract

By means of N-body simulations, we have investigated the impact of minor mergers on theangular momentum content and kinematical properties of a disc galaxy. Our simulationscover a range of initial orbital characteristics and the system consists of a massivegalaxy with a bulge and a stellar disc merging with a much less massive gasless companion.Our results show that: (1) during the process of merging, the disc of the primary galaxybecomes kinematically hotter and thicker; (2) its specific angular momentum alwaysdecreases, independent of the orbit or morphology of the satellite galaxy; (3) thedecrease in the rotation velocity of the primary galaxy is accompanied by a change in theanisotropy of the stellar orbits, which becomes increasingly radially dominated as themerger advances; (4) the radial velocity dispersion increases at all radii, but inparticular in the outermost regions; (5) at the same time, the transverse velocitydecreases throughout the whole disc, except in the inner region, where the constributionof bulge stars leads to an increase ofσt.

Type
Research Article
Information
European Astronomical Society Publications Series , Volume 45: GAIA: At the Frontiers of Astrometry , 2010 , pp. 389 - 392
Copyright
© EAS, EDP Sciences 2011

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