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“Orbital Structure of Galaxy Merger Remnants and Its Imprint on 2D Kinematic Observations” Dr. Loren Hoffman Northwestern University |
| For decades kinematic observations of elliptical galaxies using long-slit spectroscopy have shown a variety of complex features, including minor axis rotation, isophote twists, kinematically distinct components, and embedded disks. The presence of these features shows that the galaxies retain substantial memory of their formation history. Recent advances in high-resolution integral field spectroscopy enable us to analyze these features in far greater detail than before. Schwarzschild modelling of the full 2D kinematic data sets opens up the possibility of reconstructing the 3D distribution functions of observed galaxies. Numerical simulations of galaxy mergers are a powerful tool to connect the observed kinematics with the properties of the progenitor systems of present-day ellipticals. I will present results from ~50 disk-disk merger simulations with a variety of initial gas fractions and orbital parameters, and ~10 re-mergers of the disk-disk merger remnants. All simulations were performed using a version of the tree/SPH code GADGET-2 (Springel 2005) that includes sub-resolution prescriptions for radiative cooling, star formation, and AGN feedback. I will discuss the effects of the progenitor properties on the final distribution function of the merger remnants, and the signatures of the remnant orbit structure in synthetic 2D kinematic maps similar to data from the SAURON integral field spectrograph. |