Chemodynamical Modelling of Galaxy Formation and Evolution

We present our recently developed 3-dimensional chemodynamical code for galaxy evolution. This code follows the evolution of different galactic components like stars, dark matter and different components of the interstellar medium (ISM), i.e. a diffuse gaseous phase and the molecular clouds. Stars and dark matter are treated as collisionless N-body systems. The ISM is numerically described by a smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) approach for the diffuse gas and a sticky particle scheme for the molecular clouds. Additionally, the galactic components are coupled by several phase transitions like star formation, stellar death or condensation and evaporation processes within the ISM. As an example we show the dynamical and chemical evolution of a star forming dwarf galaxy with a total baryonic mass of 2 ċ 10⁹ M_⊙. After a moderate collapse phase the stars and the molecular clouds follow an exponential radial distribution, whereas the diffuse gas shows a central depression as a result of stellar feedback. The metallicities of the galactic components behave quite differently with respect to their temporal evolution as well as their radial distribution. Especially, the ISM is at no stage well mixed. This revised version was published online in September 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.