Sabrina Stierwalt (University of Virginia)

The Physics of Colliding Galaxies // Massive galaxies like our own Milky Way are thought to be built through the merging of smaller galaxies. Despite this incredibly important role in the assembly history of galaxies, however, very little is known about the physics of mergers between low mass galaxies. I will present results from the TiNy Titans Survey (TNT), the first large scale study of interactions and mergers between low mass galaxies, including how much of our extensive knowledge of massive galaxy mergers can be scaled down to explain low mass mergers. We are addressing such questions as: do mergers between low mass galaxies inspire starbursts and the growth of intermediate mass black holes? Do the numbers of observed low mass galaxy interactions match theoretical predictions?