The influence of non-minimally coupled scalar fields on the dynamics of
  interacting galaxies
  We study bar formation in galactic disks as a consequence of the collision of
two spiral galaxies under the influence of a potential which is obtained from
the Newtonian limit of a scalar--tensor theory of gravity. We found that
dynamical effects depend on parameters ($\alpha$, $\lambda$) of the theory. In
particular, we observe that the bar is shorter for weaker tidal perturbations,
which in turn corresponds to smaller values of $\lambda$ used in our numerical
experiments.
