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		| Paper: | 
		Minor Mergers and the Formation of Shell Galaxies | 
	 
	
		| Volume: | 
		209, Small Galaxy Groups, IAU Colloquium 174 | 
	 
	
		| Page: | 
		273 | 
	 
	
		| Authors: | 
		Charmandaris, V.; Combes, F. | 
	 
	
	
		| Abstract: | 
		We present a new mechanism which can explain the observed radial displacement between the stellar and gaseous shells observed around early type galaxies. Our model is based on the well-known phase-wrapping process taking into account that a fraction of the interstellar medium is clumpy and consequently it experiences a low dynamical friction during a merging event. Moreover, our recent detection of cold molecular gas associated with the outer shells of Centaurus A is in agreement with the proposed model. This suggests that a considerable fraction of molecular gas in minor mergers may be distributed away from the nuclear regions and remain undetected. | 
	 
	
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