Collisions and mergers seem to have played a major role in determining the shapes and dynamics of present-day galaxies. A few mergers are still occurring and offer valuable clues to past evolutionary processes. Dating ancient mergers has become feasible because of the discovery of merger signatures such as ripples, tails, X-structures, and oddly rotating cores in earlytype galaxies. The research to be carried out in this grant will be a program of observational research aimed at studying the process of collisions and mergers of galaxies. The Principal Investigator is regarded as a world leader in this research area.
