J.E. Barnes - Böcker

The 186th IAU Symposium came at an exciting and perhaps even historic time for extragalactic astronomy. New spacecraft observations plumbed the depths of the universe out to redshifts of five, while revealing astounding details of nearby galaxies and AGN at intermediate redshifts. Theoretical ideas on structure formation, together with results from detailed numerical modelling, created a comprehensive framework for modelling the formation of galaxies and the transformation of galaxies by interactions and mergers. All these strands came together at the Symposium, as participants glimpsed a developing synthesis highlighting galactic encounters and their role in the history of the universe. This volume offers professional astronomers, including PhD students, an overview of the rapidly advancing subject of galaxy interactions at low and high redshifts.

The 186th IAU Symposium came at an exciting and perhaps even historic time for extragalactic astronomy. New spacecraft observations plumbed the depths of the universe out to redshifts of five, while revealing astounding details of nearby galaxies and AGN at intermediate redshifts. Theoretical ideas on structure formation, together with results from detailed numerical modelling, created a comprehensive framework for modelling the formation of galaxies and the transformation of galaxies by interactions and mergers. All these strands came together at the Symposium, as participants glimpsed a developing synthesis highlighting galactic encounters and their role in the history of the universe. This volume offers professional astronomers, including PhD students, an overview of the rapidly advancing subject of galaxy interactions at low and high redshifts.

This volume contains the written version of the lectures given at the 26th course of the Saas-Fee series. The book represents a comprehensive review of the field of galaxy interaction. Galaxies are no longer seen as immutable objects - they evolve, interact, merge, blaze and reshape. Dynamic forces can induce powerful stellar activity able to transform the matter composition and morphology of galaxies. The lectures included in the book aim to further our understanding of the phenomena, giving a historical perspective and examining topics such as induced star formation. They are intended for graduate students and those studying astrophysics.