Galaxy Collisions: Modeling Star Formation in Different Environments

Abstract

Starbursts in interacting galaxies are mediated by the dynamical response of the host galaxy to the collisional perturbation. Environmental effects may lead to systematic differences in the nature of the encounter such that the properties of induced starbursts are likely to be different in cluster and field environments. I first discuss these differences in the context of numerical simulations of interacting galaxies, then describe the role of cluster tides in influencing interaction-induced star formation.