Chemo-dynamical evolution of tidal dwarf galaxies. I. Method and IMF
  dependence
  We present high-resolution simulations of tidal dwarf galaxies (TDG) to
investigate their early chemo-dynamical evolution and test their survivability.
In this work the simulation setup is introduced and the response of TDGs to
self-consistent star formation (SF) and an external tidal field is examined.
Throughout the simulation star cluster particles with variable masses down to
$5\,M_{\odot}$ form, depending on the local gas reservoir. For low cluster
masses $M_{\mathrm{cl}}$, the stellar initial mass function (IMF) is considered
to be either filled or truncated at a maximal star mass $m_\mathrm{max}$ to
represent the observed $m_{\mathrm{max}} - M_{\mathrm{cl}}$ relation (IGIMF
theory). The evolution of TDGs with fully-populated and truncated IMFs are
compared to study the impact of stellar energy feedback on their survivability.
Both TDGs experience an initial starburst but after a dynamical time they
evolve into dwarf galaxies with self-regulated and continuous SF. At this stage
the truncated-IMF model contains about 6 times more stellar mass than the
invariant IMF models, but the final bound gas mass is comparable in both
models. In spite of their significantly different SF histories, both TDG models
are not disrupted within the first 500 Myr. We conclude that TDGs can survive
an early starburst, independent of the underlying IMF description, even though
they do not harbor a stabilizing dark matter halo.
