The future Milky Way and Andromeda galaxy merger. (arXiv:1906.02982v1 [astro-ph.GA])
<a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Schiavi_R/0/1/0/all/0/1">Riccardo Schiavi</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Dolcetta_R/0/1/0/all/0/1">Roberto Capuzzo Dolcetta</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Sedda_M/0/1/0/all/0/1">Manuel Arca Sedda</a>
According to our current knowledge about physical and dynamical properties of
the Milky Way-M31 system, it seems likely that these two galaxies will collide
and eventually merge in a time very sensitive to initial conditions. Using the
HiGPUs code, we have performed several numerical simulations to study the
dynamics of the system, trying to define the role of indeterminacy in the
present day observed relative velocities of the two galaxies and the time of
the merger. At the same time, we have followed the dynamics of the two massive
black holes sitting in the galactic centers, to check (within the space and
time resolution limits of our simulation) their relative motion upon the
completion of the galaxies merger process.
According to our current knowledge about physical and dynamical properties of
the Milky Way-M31 system, it seems likely that these two galaxies will collide
and eventually merge in a time very sensitive to initial conditions. Using the
HiGPUs code, we have performed several numerical simulations to study the
dynamics of the system, trying to define the role of indeterminacy in the
present day observed relative velocities of the two galaxies and the time of
the merger. At the same time, we have followed the dynamics of the two massive
black holes sitting in the galactic centers, to check (within the space and
time resolution limits of our simulation) their relative motion upon the
completion of the galaxies merger process.
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