Galactic Cannibalism: the Origin of the Magellanic Stream

Abstract

We are in a privileged location in the Universe which allows us to observe galactic interactions from close range -- the merger of our two nearest dwarf satellite galaxies, the LMC and SMC. It is important to understand the local merger process before we can have confidence in understanding mergers at high redshift. We present high resolution Nbody+SPH simulations of the disruption of the LMC and SMC and the formation of the Magellanic Stream, and discuss the implications for galaxy formation and evolution.

2 pages, 1 figure, to appear in "The Evolution of Galaxies II: Basic Building Blocks", (2002) ed. M. Sauvage et al. (Kluwer)

References in corpus (1)

• Effects of SNe II and SNe Ia Feedback on the Chemo-Dynamical Evolution of Elliptical Galaxies

Cited by in corpus (6)

• Complex C: A Low-Metallicity High-Velocity Cloud Plunging into the Milky Way
• N-body simulations of the Magellanic Stream
• Atomic Hydrogen Gas in Dark-Matter Minihalos and the Compact High Velocity Clouds
• Dynamics and Stellar Content of the Giant Southern Stream in M31. I. Keck Spectroscopy of Red Giant Stars
• The Magellanic System: the puzzle of the leading gas stream
• High-resolution N-body Simulations of Galactic Cannibalism: The Magellanic Stream