Dynamics, Dust, and Young Stars – Computer Simulations of Merging Galaxies

During close encounters or collisions of galaxies huge tidal forces occur that whirl up and compress the dust and gas in the galaxies. This induces a steep increase of star formation. With the help of computer simulations, it was shown how the star formation rate, dust absorption, and observed appearance of the galaxy change during a merger and an analytical formula was derived which can be used to predict the dust absorption.