Towards an accurate model for the Antennae galaxies

In the framework of hierarchical structure formation ellipticals can form from merging of smaller disk galaxies. The nearby interacting 'Antennae' galaxy pair (NGC 4038/39) is one of the best-studied local systems of merging spirals, thus presenting us with an ideal laboratory for the study of galaxy evolution models. The Antennae are believed to be in a state prior to their final encounter with rapid subsequent merging, which puts them in the first position of the Toomre (1977) merger sequence. Here we present first numerical high-resolution, self-consistent, smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) simulations of the Antennae system, including star formation and stellar feedback, and compare our results to VLA H I observations by Hibbard et al. (2001). We are able to obtain a close, but not yet perfect match to the observed morphology and kinematics of the system. (C) 2008 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim