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IC 2163 and NGC 2207 are interacting galaxies that have been well studied at optical and radio wavelengths and simulated in numerical models to reproduce the observed kinematics and morphological features. Spitzer IRAC and MIPS observations reported here show over 200 bright clumps from young star complexes. The brightest IR clump is a morphologically peculiar region of star formation in the western arm of NGC 2207. This clump, which dominates the H and radio continuum emission from both galaxies, accounts for $12% of the total 24 m flux. Nearly half of the clumps are regularly spaced along some filamentary structure, whether in the starburst oval of IC 2163 or in the thin spiral arms of NGC 2207. This regularity appears to influence the clump luminosity function, making it peaked at a value nearly a factor of 10 above the completeness limit, particularly in the starburst oval. This is unlike the optical clusters inside the clumps, which have a luminosity function consistent with the usual power-law form. The giant IR clumps presumably formed by gravitational instabilities in the compressed gas of the oval and the spiral arms, whereas the individual clusters formed by more chaotic processes, such as turbulence compression, inside these larger scale structures.

We present a picture of star formation around the H ii region Sh2‐235 (S235) based upon data on the spatial distribution of young stellar clusters and the distribution and kinematics of molecular gas around S235. We observed 13CO (1–0) and CS (2–1) emission toward S235 with the Onsala Space Observatory 20‐m telescope and analysed the star density distribution with archival data from the Two Micron All‐Sky Survey (2MASS). Dense molecular gas forms a shell‐like structure at the southeastern part of S235. The young clusters found with 2MASS data are embedded in this shell. The positional relationship of the clusters, the molecular shell and the H ii region indicates that expansion of S235 is responsible for the formation of the clusters. The gas distribution in the S235 molecular complex is clumpy, which hampers interpretation exclusively on the basis of the morphology of the star‐forming region. We use data on kinematics of molecular gas to support the hypothesis of induced star formation, and distinguish three basic types of molecular gas components. The first type is primordial undisturbed gas of the giant molecular cloud, the second type is gas entrained in motion by expansion of the H ii region (this is where the embedded clusters were formed) and the third type is a fast‐moving gas, which might have been accelerated by winds from the newly formed clusters. The clumpy distribution of molecular gas and its kinematics around the H ii region implies that the picture of triggered star formation around S235 can be a mixture of at least two possibilities: the ‘collect‐and‐collapse’ scenario and the compression of pre‐existing dense clumps by the shock wave.

Aims. The aim is to investigate the star-formation and LINER (low ionization nuclear emission line region) activity within the central kiloparsec of the galaxy NGC 1614. In this paper the radio continuum morphology, which provides a tracer of both nuclear and star-formation activity, and the distribution and dynamics of the cold molecular and atomic gas feeding this activity, are studied. In particular, the nature of an R ≈ 300 pc nuclear ring of star-formation and its relationship to the LINER activity in NGC 1614 is addressed. Methods. A high angular resolution, multi-wavelength study of the LINER galaxy NGC 1614 has been performed. Deep observations of the CO 1-0 spectral line were performed using the Owens Valley Radio Observatory (OVRO). These data have been complemented by extensive multi-frequency radio continuum and Hi absorption observations using the Very Large Array (VLA) and Multi-Element Radio Linked Interferometer Network (MERLIN). Results. Toward the center of NGC 1614, we have detected a ring of radio continuum emission with a radius of 300 pc. This ring is coincident with previous radio and Paα observations. The dynamical mass of the ring based on Hi absorption is 3.1 × 10 9 M . The peak of the integrated CO 1-0 emission is shifted by 1 to the north-west of the ring center. An upper limit to the molecular gas mass in the ring region is ∼1.7 × 10 9 M . Inside the ring, there is a north to south elongated 1.4 GHz radio continuum feature, with a nuclear peak. This peak is also seen in the 5 GHz radio continuum and in the CO. Conclusions. We suggest that the R = 300 pc star forming ring represents the radius of a dynamical resonance -as an alternative to the scenario that the starburst is propagating outwards from the center into a molecular ring. The ring-like appearance is probably part of a spiral structure. Substantial amounts of molecular gas have passed the radius of the ring and reached the nuclear region. The nuclear peak seen in 5 GHz radio continuum and CO is likely related to previous star formation, where all molecular gas was not consumed. The LINER-like optical spectrum observed in NGC 1614 may be due to nuclear starburst activity, and not to an active galactic nucleus (AGN). Although the presence of an AGN cannot be excluded.

Observations with the Hubble Space Telescope reveal an irregular network of dust spiral arms in the nuclear region of the interacting disk galaxy NGC 2207. The spirals extend from ∼50 to ∼300 pc in galactocentric radius, with a projected width of ∼20 pc. Radiative transfer calculations determine the gas properties of the spirals and the inner disk and imply a factor of ∼4 local gas compression in the spirals. The gas is not strongly self-gravitating, nor is there a nuclear bar, so the spirals could not have formed by the usual mechanisms applied to main galaxy disks. Instead, they may result from acoustic instabilities that amplify at small galactic radii. Such instabilities may promote gas accretion into the nucleus.

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We present numerical hydrodynamical models of the collision between the galaxies IC 2163 and NGC 2207. These models extend the results of earlier work in which the galaxy discs were modelled one at a time. We confirm the general result that the collision is primarily planar, that is, at moderate inclination relative to the two discs, and prograde for IC 2163, but retrograde for NGC 2207. We list 34 specific morphological or kinematic features on a variety of scales, found with multiwaveband observations, which we use to constrain the models. The models are able to reproduce most of these features, with a relative orbit in which the companion (IC 2163) disc first side‐swipes the primary (NGC 2207) disc on the west side, then moves around the edge of the primary disc to the north and to its current position on the east side. The models also provide evidence that the dark matter halo of NGC 2207 has only moderate extent. For IC 2163, the prolonged prograde disturbance in the model produces a tidal tail, and an oval or ocular waveform very much like the observed ones, including some fine structure. The retrograde disturbance in the model produces no strong waveforms within the primary galaxy. This suggests that the prominent spiral waves in NGC 2207 were present before the collision, and models with waves imposed in the initial conditions confirm that they would not be disrupted by the collision. With an initial central hole in the gas disc of the primary, and imposed spirals, the model also reproduces the broad ring seen in H i observations. Model gas disc kinematics compare well to the observed (H i) kinematics, providing further confirmation of its validity. An algorithm for feedback heating from young stars is included, and the feedback models suggest the occurrence of a moderate starburst in IC 2163 about 250 Myr ago. We believe that this is now one of the best‐modelled systems of colliding galaxies, though the model could still be improved by including full disc self‐gravity. The confrontation between observations and models of so many individual features provides one of the strongest tests of collision theory. The success of the models affirms this theory, but the effort required to achieve this, and the sensitivity of models to initial conditions, suggests that it will be difficult to model specific structures on scales smaller than about a kiloparsec in any collisional system.