Nathan Deg (University of Cape Town)

Nathan Deg Colloquium: Tailored Simulations

Marsfield lecture theatre

Abstract

Tailored simulations are excellent tools for investigating a variety of physical phenomena using controlled numerical experiments. In this talk, I will introduce you to a new version of the GalactICS code that generates equilibrium initial galaxy conditions comprising a stellar bulge, two stellar disks, a dark halo, and a gas disk. This code has been used to in a number of interesting projects including generating a 5 component Milky Way model, generating mock data cubes and mock IFUs for comparison with observations, modelling barred spiral galaxies like NGC 1300, testing whether the tidal features of IC 10 are due to an interaction with M 31, quantifying the asymmetries in velocity profiles, and examining mergers in VR. This talk will briefly highlight the results from some of these projects and show some of the ways tailored simulations can be used to understand and explore interesting phenomena through numerical experiments.