Modeling Interacting Galaxies: NGC 4449 revisited

¹ Institute of Astronomy, Univ. of Vienna, Türkenschanzstr. 17, 1180 Vienna, Austria
² Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie, Königstuhl 17, Heidelberg, Germany

Abstract

Observing nearby interacting galaxies is a key to understanding galactic physics provided that we know the spatial and temporal perturbations acting on these galaxies. Thus, we have to know the orbits and the gross internal properties of the galaxies. In order to cope with the related extended parameter space, we developed the code MINGA which combines a genetic algorithm with a fast N-body method. As an example for this method, we present a re-analysis of the prototypical system NGC 4449 which is now based on both, the full HI data cube of the NGC 4449 system and on improved determinations of the galactic orbits within a restricted N-body calculation.