I will present a new N-body / SPH simulation code and results from its application to galaxy mergers. Some important details of the specific features of the VINE code will be discussed and timings of its parallel performance will be presented. The code makes use of a binary tree structure for the efficient computation of gravitational interactions
and is able to use GRAPE hardware for such computations. The tree structure is also used for the efficient search of SPH neighbour particles. The SPH part of the code includes an implementation of time dependent artificial viscosity coefficients. Options for periodic boundary conditions as well as for cosmological expansion are installed, making the code suitable for a wide range of applications. A leapfrog and a Runge-Kutta-Fehlberg integration scheme have been implemented.
Both integrators can make use of an individual particle timestep scheme. The VINE code is written in standard Fortran-95 and fully parallelized for shared memory supercomputers using the OpenMP standard. The structure of the code is very modular to easily allow adding other features if necessary. The code will be available to the community. As an example for the applications of the code, I will discuss the importance of resolution studies on the example of the formation of
tidal dwarf galaxies (TDGs) in interacting galaxies. In particular the key role of the gas component for the formation of TDGs will be highlighted.
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