Detecting chaotic and ordered motion in barred galaxies

Abstract

A very important issue in the area of galactic dynamics is the detection of chaotic and ordered motion inside galaxies. In order to achieve this target, we use the Smaller ALignment Index (SALI) method, which is a very suitable tool for this kind of problems. Here, we apply this index to 3D barred galaxy potentials and we present some results on the chaotic behavior of the model when its main parameters vary.Comment: 2 pages, 4 figures, in the "Semaine de l'Astrophysique Francaise Journees de la SF2A", (in press