220 research outputs found
Asymptotic Orbits in Barred Spiral Galaxies
We study the formation of the spiral structure of barred spiral galaxies,
using an -body model. The evolution of this -body model in the adiabatic
approximation maintains a strong spiral pattern for more than 10 bar rotations.
We find that this longevity of the spiral arms is mainly due to the phenomenon
of stickiness of chaotic orbits close to the unstable asymptotic manifolds
originated from the main unstable periodic orbits, both inside and outside
corotation. The stickiness along the manifolds corresponding to different
energy levels supports parts of the spiral structure. The loci of the disc
velocity minima (where the particles spend most of their time, in the
configuration space) reveal the density maxima and therefore the main
morphological structures of the system. We study the relation of these loci
with those of the apocentres and pericentres at different energy levels. The
diffusion of the sticky chaotic orbits outwards is slow and depends on the
initial conditions and the corresponding Jacobi constant.Comment: 17 pages, 24 figure
Invariant manifolds and the response of spiral arms in barred galaxies
The unstable invariant manifolds of the short-period family of periodic
orbits around the unstable Lagrangian points and of a barred galaxy
define loci in the configuration space which take the form of a trailing spiral
pattern. In the present paper we investigate this association in the case of
the self-consistent models of Kaufmann & Contopoulos (1996) which provide an
approximation of real barred-spiral galaxies. We also examine the relation of
`response' models of barred-spiral galaxies with the theory of the invariant
manifolds. Our main results are the following: The invariant manifolds yield
the correct form of the imposed spiral pattern provided that their calculation
is done with the spiral potential term turned on. We provide a theoretical
model explaining the form of the invariant manifolds that supports the spiral
structure. The azimuthal displacement of the Lagrangian points with respect to
the bar's major axis is a crucial parameter in this modeling. When this is
taken into account, the manifolds necessarily develop in a spiral-like domain
of the configuration space, delimited from below by the boundary of a
banana-like non-permitted domain, and from above either by rotational KAM tori
or by cantori forming a stickiness zone. We construct `spiral response' models
on the basis of the theory of the invariant manifolds and examine the
connection of the latter to the `response' models (Patsis 2006) used to fit
real barred-spiral galaxies, explaining how are the manifolds related to a
number of morphological features seen in such models.Comment: 16 Page
Complex statistics in Hamiltonian barred galaxy models
We use probability density functions (pdfs) of sums of orbit coordinates,
over time intervals of the order of one Hubble time, to distinguish weakly from
strongly chaotic orbits in a barred galaxy model. We find that, in the weakly
chaotic case, quasi-stationary states arise, whose pdfs are well approximated
by -Gaussian functions (with ), while strong chaos is identified by
pdfs which quickly tend to Gaussians (). Typical examples of weakly
chaotic orbits are those that "stick" to islands of ordered motion. Their
presence in rotating galaxy models has been investigated thoroughly in recent
years due of their ability to support galaxy structures for relatively long
time scales. In this paper, we demonstrate, on specific orbits of 2 and 3
degree of freedom barred galaxy models, that the proposed statistical approach
can distinguish weakly from strongly chaotic motion accurately and efficiently,
especially in cases where Lyapunov exponents and other local dynamic indicators
appear to be inconclusive.Comment: 14 pages, 9 figures, submitted for publicatio
The Orbital Structure of Triaxial Galaxies with Figure Rotation
We survey the properties of all orbit families in the rotating frame of a
family of realistic triaxial potentials with central supermassive black holes
(SMBHs). In such galaxies, most regular box orbits (vital for maintaining
triaxiality) are associated with resonances which occupy two-dimensional
surfaces in configuration space. For slow figure rotation all orbit families
are largely stable. At intermediate pattern speeds a significant fraction of
the resonant box orbits as well as inner long-axis tubes are destabilized by
the "envelope doubling" that arises from the Coriolis forces and are driven
into the destabilizing center. Thus, for pattern rotation periods .2 Gyr < Tp <
5 Gyr, the two orbit families that are most important for maintaining
triaxiality are highly chaotic. As pattern speed increases there is also a
sharp decrease in the overall fraction of prograde short-axis tubes and a
corresponding increase in the retrograde variety. At the highest pattern speeds
(close to that of triaxial bars), box-like orbits undergo a sudden transition
to a new family of stable retrograde loop-like orbits, which resemble orbits in
three-dimensional bars, and circulate about the short axis. Our analysis
implies that triaxial systems (with central cusps and SMBHs) can either have
high pattern speeds like fast bars or low patten speeds like triaxial
elliptical galaxies or dark matter halos found in N-body simulations.
Intermediate pattern speeds produce a high level of stochasticity in both the
box and inner long-axis tube orbit families implying that stable triaxial
systems are unlikely to have such pattern speeds.Comment: Version accepted for publication in ApJ, Vol 727, Feb. 1 issue, 201
Chaos and dynamical trends in barred galaxies: bridging the gap between N-body simulations and time-dependent analytical models
Self-consistent N-body simulations are efficient tools to study galactic
dynamics. However, using them to study individual trajectories (or ensembles)
in detail can be challenging. Such orbital studies are important to shed light
on global phase space properties, which are the underlying cause of observed
structures. The potentials needed to describe self-consistent models are
time-dependent. Here, we aim to investigate dynamical properties
(regular/chaotic motion) of a non-autonomous galactic system, whose
time-dependent potential adequately mimics certain realistic trends arising
from N-body barred galaxy simulations. We construct a fully time-dependent
analytical potential, modeling the gravitational potentials of disc, bar and
dark matter halo, whose time-dependent parameters are derived from a
simulation. We study the dynamical stability of its reduced time-independent
2-degrees of freedom model, charting the different islands of stability
associated with certain orbital morphologies and detecting the chaotic and
regular regions. In the full 3-degrees of freedom time-dependent case, we show
representative trajectories experiencing typical dynamical behaviours, i.e.,
interplay between regular and chaotic motion for different epochs. Finally, we
study its underlying global dynamical transitions, estimating fractions of
(un)stable motion of an ensemble of initial conditions taken from the
simulation. For such an ensemble, the fraction of regular motion increases with
time.Comment: 17 pages, 11 figures (revised version, accepted for publication in
Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc.
Two-Dimensional Magnetohydrodynamic Simulations of Barred Galaxies
Barred galaxies are known to possess magnetic fields that may affect the
properties of bar substructures such as dust lanes and nuclear rings. We use
two-dimensional high-resolution magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations to
investigate the effects of magnetic fields on the formation and evolution of
such substructures as well as on the mass inflow rates to the galaxy center.
The gaseous medium is assumed to be infinitesimally-thin, isothermal,
non-self-gravitating, and threaded by initially uniform, azimuthal magnetic
fields. We find that there exists an outermost x1-orbit relative to which
gaseous responses to an imposed stellar bar potential are completely different
between inside and outside. Inside this orbit, gas is shocked into dust lanes
and infalls to form a nuclear ring. Magnetic fields are compressed in dust
lanes, reducing their peak density. Magnetic stress removes further angular
momentum of the gas at the shocks, temporarily causing the dust lanes to bend
into an 'L' shape and eventually leading to a smaller and more centrally
distributed ring than in unmagnetized models. The mass inflow rates in
magnetized models correspondingly become larger, by more than two orders of
magnitude when the initial fields have an equipartition value with thermal
energy, than in the unmagnetized counterparts. Outside the outermost x1-orbit,
on the other hand, an MHD dynamo due to the combined action of the bar
potential and background shear operates near the corotation and bar-end
regions, efficiently amplifying magnetic fields. The amplified fields shape
into trailing magnetic arms with strong fields and low density. The base of the
magnetic arms has a thin layer in which magnetic fields with opposite polarity
reconnect via a tearing-mode instability. This produces numerous magnetic
islands with large density which propagate along the arms to turn the outer
disk into a highly chaotic state.Comment: 22 pages, 19 figures, 3 tables; Accepted for publication in the ApJ;
Version with full-resolution figures available at
http://mirzam.snu.ac.kr/~wkim/Bar/mhdbar.pd
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