Energy exchange during collision of a pair of disc-sphere galaxies

Abstract

We have considered the collision of a pair of disc-sphere galaxies under the impulsive approximation to study the variation of the energy change of the disc due to the passage of a spherical galaxy. Various collision parameters like the impact parameter the orientation of the disc galaxy and the relative velocity of the perturber were considered. It is shown that for small impact parameters and high relative velocities, a slightly inclined position of the disc galaxy produces maximum energy exchange. The energy exchange is observed to be asymmetric with respect to the direction of motion of the perturber.