49 research outputs found
Metallicity gradients through disk Instability: A simple model for the Milky Way's boxy bulge
Observations show a clear vertical metallicity gradient in the Galactic
bulge, which is often taken as a signature of dissipative processes in the
formation of a classical bulge. Various evidence shows, however, that the Milky
Way is a barred galaxy with a boxy bulge representing the inner
three-dimensional part of the bar. Here we show with a secular evolution N-body
model that a boxy bulge formed through bar and buckling instabilities can show
vertical metallicity gradients similar to the observed gradient, if the initial
axisymmetric disk had a comparable radial metallicity gradient. In this
framework the range of metallicities in bulge fields constrains the chemical
structure of the Galactic disk at early times, before bar formation. Our
secular evolution model was previously shown to reproduce inner Galaxy star
counts and we show here that it also has cylindrical rotation. We use it to
predict a full mean metallicity map across the Galactic bulge from a simple
metallicity model for the initial disk. This map shows a general outward
gradient on the sky as well as longitudinal perspective asymmetries. We also
briefly comment on interpreting metallicity gradient observations in external
boxy bulges.Comment: Accepted to ApJ Letter
Dynamical evolution of a bulge in an N-body model of the Milky Way
The detailed dynamical structure of the bulge in the Milky Way is currently
under debate. Although kinematics of the bulge stars can be well reproduced by
a boxy-bulge, the possible existence of a small embedded classical bulge can
not be ruled out. We study the dynamical evolution of a small classical bulge
in a model of the Milky Way using a self-consistent high resolution N-body
simulation. Detailed kinematics and dynamical properties of such a bulge are
presented.Comment: 2 pages, 2 figures, to appear in the proceedings of "Assembling the
Puzzle of the Milky Way", Le Grand Bornand (April 17-22, 2011), C. Reyle, A.
Robin, M. Schultheis (eds.
Spin-up of massive classical bulges during secular evolution
Classical bulges in spiral galaxies are known to rotate but the origin of
this observed rotational motion is not well understood. It has been shown
recently that a low-mass classical bulge (ClB) in a barred galaxy can acquire
rotation from absorbing a significant fraction of the angular momentum emitted
by the bar. Our aim here is to investigate whether bars can spin up also more
massive ClBs during the secular evolution of the bar, and to study the
kinematics and dynamics of these ClBs. We use a set of self-consistent N-body
simulations to study the interaction of ClBs with a bar that forms
self-consistently in the disk. We use orbital spectral analysis to investigate
the angular momentum gain by the classical bulge stars. We show that the ClBs
gain, on average, about 2 - 6% of the disk's initial angular momentum within
the bar region. Most of this angular momentum gain occurs via low-order
resonances, particularly 5:2 resonant orbits. A density wake forms in the ClB
which corotates and aligns with the bar at the end of the evolution. The
spin-up process creates a characteristic linear rotation profile and mild
tangential anisotropy in the ClB. The induced rotation is small in the centre
but significant beyond bulge half mass radii, where it leads to
mass-weighted , and reaches a local at around the scale of the bar. The resulting is tightly
correlated with the ratio of the bulge size to the bar size. In all models, a
box/peanut bulge forms suggesting that composite bulges may be common.
Bar-bulge resonant interaction in barred galaxies can provide some spin up of
massive ClBs, but the process appears to be less efficient than for low-mass
ClBs. Further angular momentum transfer due to nuclear bars or gas inflow would
be required to explain the observed rotation if it is not primordial.Comment: 11 Pages, 14 figures; accepted for publication by A &
Gas Feedback on Stellar Bar Evolution
We analyze evolution of live disk-halo systems in the presence of various gas
fractions, f_gas less than 8% in the disk. We addressed the issue of angular
momentum (J) transfer from the gas to the bar and its effect on the bar
evolution. We find that the weakening of the bar, reported in the literature,
is not related to the J-exchange with the gas, but is caused by the vertical
buckling instability in the gas-poor disks and by a steep heating of a stellar
velocity dispersion by the central mass concentration (CMC) in the gas-rich
disks. The gas has a profound effect on the onset of the buckling -- larger
f_gas brings it forth due to the more massive CMCs. The former process leads to
the well-known formation of the peanut-shaped bulges, while the latter results
in the formation of progressively more elliptical bulges, for larger f_gas. The
subsequent (secular) evolution of the bar differs -- the gas-poor models
exhibit a growing bar while gas-rich models show a declining bar whose vertical
swelling is driven by a secular resonance heating. The border line between the
gas-poor and -rich models lies at f_gas ~ 3% in our models, but is
model-dependent and will be affected by additional processes, like star
formation and feedback from stellar evolution. The overall effect of the gas on
the evolution of the bar is not in a direct J transfer to the stars, but in the
loss of J by the gas and its influx to the center that increases the CMC. The
more massive CMC damps the vertical buckling instability and depopulates orbits
responsible for the appearance of peanut-shaped bulges. The action of resonant
and non-resonant processes in gas-poor and gas-rich disks leads to a converging
evolution in the vertical extent of the bar and its stellar dispersion
velocities, and to a diverging evolution in the bulge properties.Comment: 12 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication by the Astrophysical
Journal. Minor corrections following the referee repor
A cosmological context for compact massive galaxies
To provide a quantitative cosmological context to ongoing observational work
on the formation histories and location of compact massive galaxies, we locate
and study a sample of exceptionally compact systems in the Bolshoi simulation,
using the dark matter structural parameters from a real, compact massive galaxy
(NGC 1277) as a basis for our working criteria. We find that over 80% of
objects in this nominal compact category are substructures of more massive
groups or clusters, and that the probability of a given massive substructure
being this compact increases significantly with the mass of the host structure;
rising to ~30% for the most massive clusters in the simulation. Tracking the
main progenitors of this subsample back to z=2, we find them all to be distinct
structures with scale radii and densities representative of the population as a
whole at this epoch. What does characterise their histories, in addition to
mostly becoming substructures, is that they have almost all experienced
below-average mass accretion since z=2; a third of them barely retaining, or
even losing mass during the intervening 10 Gyr.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figure
Elliptical galaxies with rapidly decreasing velocity dispersion profiles: NMAGIC models and dark halo parameter estimates for NGC 4494
NGC 4494 is one of several intermediate-luminosity elliptical galaxies
inferred to have an unusually diffuse dark matter halo. We use the
chi^2-made-to-measure particle code NMAGIC to construct axisymmetric models of
NGC 4494 from photometric and various kinematic data. The extended kinematics
include light spectra in multiple slitlets out to 3.5 R_e, and hundreds of
planetary nebulae velocities out to ~7 R_e, thus allowing us to probe the dark
matter content and orbital structure in the halo. We use Monte Carlo
simulations to estimate confidence boundaries for the halo parameters, given
our data and modelling set-up. We find that the true potential of the dark
matter halo is recovered within Delta G (merit function)<26 (Delta chi^2<59) at
70% confidence level (C.L.), and within Delta G<32 (Delta chi^2<70) at 90%
C.L.. These numbers are much larger than the usually assumed Delta chi^2=2.3
(4.6) for 70% (90%) C.L. for two free parameters, perhaps case-dependent, but
calling into question the general validity of the standard assumptions used for
halo and black hole mass determinations. The best-fitting models for NGC 4494
have a dark matter fraction of about 0.6\pm0.1 at 5R_e (70% C.L.), and are
embedded in a dark matter halo with circular velocity ~200 km/s. The total
circular velocity curve (CVC) is approximately flat at v_c=220 km/s outside
~0.5R_e. The orbital anisotropy of the stars is moderately radial. These
results are independent of the assumed inclination of the galaxy, and edge-on
models are preferred. Comparing with the halos of NGC 3379 and NGC 4697, whose
velocity dispersion profiles also decrease rapidly from the center outwards,
the outer CVCs and dark matter halos are quite similar. NGC 4494 shows a
particularly high dark matter fraction inside ~3R_e, and a strong concentration
of baryons in the center.Comment: 21 pages, 23 figures, 1 table. Accepted for publication in MNRA
A numerical study of interactions and stellar bars
For several decades it has been known that stellar bars in disc galaxies can
be triggered by interactions, or by internal processes such as dynamical
instabilities. In this work, we explore the differences between these two
mechanisms using numerical simulations. We perform two groups of simulations
based on isolated galaxies, one group in which a bar develops naturally, and
another group in which the bar could not develop in isolation. The rest of the
simulations recreate 1:1 coplanar fly-by interactions computed with the impulse
approximation. The orbits we use for the interactions represent the fly-bys in
groups or clusters of different masses accordingly to the velocity of the
encounter. In the analysis we focus on bars' amplitude, size, pattern speed and
their rotation parameter, . The latter is used to
define fast (). Compared with
equivalent isolated galaxies we find that bars affected or triggered by
interactions: (i) remain in the slow regime for longer; (ii) are more boxy in
face-on views; (iii) they host kinematically hotter discs. Within this set of
simulations we do not see strong differences between retrograde or prograde
fly-bys. We also show that slow interactions can trigger bar formation.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRA
The mass and angular momentum distribution of simulated massive early-type galaxies to large radii
We study the dark and luminous mass distributions, circular velocity curves
(CVC), line-of-sight kinematics, and angular momenta for a sample of 42
cosmological zoom simulations of massive galaxies. Using a temporal smoothing
technique, we are able to reach large radii. We find that: (i)The dark matter
halo density profiles outside a few kpc follow simple power-law models, with
flat dark matter CVCs for lower-mass systems, and rising CVCs for high-mass
haloes. The projected stellar density distributions at large radii can be
fitted by Sersic functions with n>10, larger than for typical ETGs. (ii)The
massive systems have nearly flat total CVCs at large radii, while the less
massive systems have mildly decreasing CVCs. The slope of the CVC at large
radii correlates with v_circ itself. (iii)The dark matter fractions within Re
are in the range 15-30% and increase to 40-65% at 5Re. Larger and more massive
galaxies have higher dark matter fractions. (iv)The short axes of simulated
galaxies and their host dark matter haloes are well aligned and their
short-to-long axis ratios are correlated. (v)The stellar vrms(R) profiles are
slowly declining, in agreement with planetary nebulae observations in the outer
haloes of most ETGs. (vi)The line-of-sight velocity fields v show that rotation
properties at small and large radii are correlated. Most radial profiles for
the cumulative specific angular momentum parameter lambda(R) are nearly flat or
slightly rising, with values in [0.06,0.75] from 2Re to 5Re. (vii)Stellar mass,
ellipticity at 5Re, and lambda(5Re) are correlated: the more massive systems
have less angular momentum and are rounder, as for observed ETGs. (viii)More
massive galaxies with a large fraction of accreted stars have radially
anisotropic velocity distributions outside Re. Tangential anisotropy is seen
only for galaxies with high fraction of in-situ stars. (Full abstract in PDF)Comment: 17 pages, 15 figures, 2 tables, accepted by MNRA