Could M31 be the result of a major merger?
  We investigated a scenario in which M31 could be the remnant of a gas-rich
major merger. Galaxy merger simulations, highly constrained by observations,
were run using GADGET 2 in order to reproduce M31. We succeeded in reproducing
the global shape of M31, the thin disk and the bulge, and in addition some of
the main M31 large-scale features, such as the thick disk, the 10kpc ring and
the Giant Stream. This lead to a new explanation of the Giant Stream which
could be caused by tidal tail stars that have been captured by the galaxy
potential.
