Related papers: The rate of secular evolution in elliptical galaxi…
Disk galaxies evolve over time through processes that may rearrange both the radial mass profile and the metallicity distribution within the disk. This review of such slow changes is largely, though not entirely, restricted to…
We investigate the old problem of the fast relaxation of collisionless $N$-body systems which are collapsing or perturbed, emphasizing the importance of (non-collisional) discreteness effects. We integrate orbit ensembles in fixed external…
This paper discusses the location of a sample of planetary nebulae on the HR diagram. We determine the internal velocity fields of 14 planetary nebulae from high-resolution echelle spectroscopy, with the help of photoionization models. The…
We present a multiphase model for the evolution of elliptical galaxies. Diffuse gas, molecular clouds, stars and remnants are taken into account. Cloud--cloud collisions and stimulated processes are the main causes of star formation. The…
We study the dynamical evolution of star clusters on eccentric orbits using a semi-analytical approach. In particular we adapt and extend the equations of EMACSS code, introduced by Gieles et al. (2014), to work with eccentric orbits. We…
The globular cluster population in M87 has decreased measurably through dynamical evolution caused by relaxation, binary heating and time-dependent tidal perturbation. For fundamental plane ellipticals in general, cluster populations evolve…
We study the behavior of orbits in two different galactic dynamical models, describing the motion in the central parts of a triaxial elliptical galaxy with a dense nucleus. Numerical experiments show that both models display regular motion…
Axisymmetric disks of eccentric Kepler orbits are vulnerable to an instability which causes orbits to exponentially grow in inclination, decrease in eccentricity, and cluster in their angle of pericenter. Geometrically, the disk expands to…
We present $N$--body models for triaxial elliptical galaxies or halos of galaxies, which are fully self--gravitating, have near constant axis ratio as a function of radius and a $r^{-1}$ central density cusp. Preliminary investigation…
Lynden-Bell & Kalnajs (1972) presented a useful formula for computing the long-range torque between spiral arms and the disk at large. The derivation uses second-order perturbation theory and assumes that the perturbation slowly grows over…
We investigate the regular or chaotic nature of star orbits moving in the meridional plane of an axially symmetric galactic model with a disk and a spherical nucleus. We study the influence of some important parameters of the dynamical…
We investigate the motion, near the equilibrium configurations, of an initially spinless rigid body subject to an external tidal field. Two cases are considered: when the center of mass of the body is at rest at the equilibrium point of the…
We revisit the hypothesis that dense galactic nuclei are formed from inspiraling globular clusters. Recent advances in understanding of the continuous formation of globular clusters over cosmic time and the concurrent evolution of the…
We report results of a large set of N-body calculations aimed to study the evolution of multi-mass star clusters in external tidal fields. Our clusters start with the same initial mass-functions, but varying particle numbers, orbital types…
A comparative analysis of the dynamics of the orbital motion (regular or chaotic) of 45 globular clusters in the central region of the Galaxy with a radius of 3.5 kpc is carried out. The static and evolving (based on the semi-analytical…
Located at the core of the Galactic Centre, the S-star cluster serves as a remarkable illustration of chaos in dynamical systems. The long-term chaotic behaviour of this system can be studied with gravitational $N$-body simulations. By…
The large increase in exoplanet discoveries in the last two decades showed a variety of systems whose stability is not clear. In this work we chose the $\upsilon$ Andromedae system as the basis of our studies in dynamical stability. This…
Context: Seasonal variations and climate stability of a planet are very sensitive to the planet obliquity and its evolution. This is of particular interest for the emergence and sustainability of land-based life, but orbital and rotational…
A new element is proposed to play a role in the evolution of extrasolar planetary systems: the tidal (or elliptical) instability. It comes from a parametric resonance and takes place in any rotating fluid whose streamlines are (even…
Here I present a review of the work done on the presence and effects of chaos in elliptical galaxies plus some recent results we obtained on this subject. The fact that important fractions of the orbits that arise in potentials adequate to…