Related papers: Elliptical galaxies: rotationally distorted, after…
Recent work on the equilibrium and stability of ellipsoidal stellar systems is reviewed. The absence of constant-density cores in early-type galaxies implies that chaos and high-order resonances are generic features of the motion in…
We consider a scalar-tensor theory of gravitation with the scalar source being the trace of the stress-energy tensor of the scalar field itself and matter. We obtain an example of a numerical solution of the cosmological equations which…
We investigate two possible effects of the tidal field induced by a spherical cluster on its elliptical galaxy members: the modification of the ellipticity of a spherical galaxy and the isophotal alignment in the cluster radial direction of…
Eigenvectors of stress-energy tensor (the source in Einstein's equations) form privileged bases in description of the corresponding space-times. When one or more of these vector fields are rotating (the property well determined in…
In weakly collisional stellar systems such as some globular clusters, partial energy equipartition and mass segregation are expected to develop as a result of the cumulative effect of stellar encounters even in systems initially…
We study dynamical models for elliptical galaxies, deriving the projected kinematic profiles in a form that is valid for general surface-brightness profiles and (spherical) total mass profiles, without the need for any explicit…
A theoretical and experimental study of the spin-over mode induced by the elliptical instability of a flow contained in a slightly deformed rotating spherical shell is presented. This geometrical configuration mimics the liquid rotating…
A compact formula for the stress tensor inside a self-gravitating, triaxial ellipsoid in an arbitrary rotation state is given. It contains no singularity in the incompressible medium limit. The stress tensor and the quality factor model are…
Observational studies of galaxy isophotal shapes have shown that galaxy orientations are anisotropic: a galaxy's long axis tends to be oriented toward the center of its host. This radial alignment is seen across a wide range of scales, from…
Studies of the Fundamental Plane of early-type galaxies, from small to intermediate redshifts, are often carried out under the guiding principle that the Fundamental Plane reflects the existence of an underlying mass-luminosity relation for…
We show with analytic models that the assumption of uncorrelated intrinsic ellipticities of target sources that is usually made in searches for weak gravitational lensing due to large-scale mass inhomogeneities (``field lensing'') is…
We explored the motion of test particles near slowly rotating relativistic star having a uniform luminosity. In order to derive the test particle's equations of motion, we made use of the radiation stress-energy tensor first constructed by…
The main goal of this paper is to set up a numerical laboratory for the study of the slow evolution of the density and of the pressure tensor profiles of an otherwise collisionless stellar system, as a result of the interactions with a…
Dynamical systems in equilibrium have a stationary entropy; we suggest that elliptical galaxies, as stellar systems in a stage of quasi-equilibrium, may have a unique specific entropy. This uniqueness, a priori unknown, should be reflected…
It has recently been argued that the observed ellipticities of galaxies may be determined at least in part by the primordial tidal gravitational field in which the galaxy formed. Long-range correlations in the tidal field could thus lead to…
Weak lensing by large scale structure induces correlated ellipticities in the images of distant galaxies. The two-point correlation is determined by the matter power spectrum along the line of sight. We use the fully nonlinear evolution of…
We show that, provided the principal axes of the second velocity moment tensor of a stellar population are generally unequal and are oriented perpendicular to a set of orthogonal surfaces at each point, then those surfaces must be confocal…
Here I review recent work, by other authors and by myself, on some particular topics related to the regular and chaotic motion in elliptical galaxies. I show that it is quite possible to build highly stable triaxial stellar systems that…
We present a class of exact solutions of Einstein's gravitational field equations describing spherically symmetric and static anisotropic stellar type configurations. The solutions are obtained by assuming a particular form of the…
Rotation is ubiquitous in the Universe, and recent kinematic surveys have shown that early type galaxies and globular clusters are no exception. Yet the linear response of spheroidal rotating stellar systems has seldom been studied. This…