NGC 3256: Kinematic Anatomy of a Merger

We have used the Australia Telescope Compact Array to image the neutral hydrogen in the merging system NGC 3256, to test the idea that globular clusters (GCs) form during the interactions and mergers of disk galaxies. We compare our observations with hydrodynamical numerical simulations from the literature to examine the hypothesis that the H I fragments with masses greater than 107±1 M⊙ are sites of GC formation. We appear to have detected detached H I fragments in the vicinity of NGC 3256. These fragments, with masses ∼107 M⊙, may have little dark matter content, which is also a characteristic of globular clusters, and so our observations support the hypothesis that globular clusters form in the type of interaction that resulted in NGC 3256.