Related papers: Lindblad's epicycles - valid method or bad science…
Testing theories of angular-momentum acquisition of rotationally supported disc galaxies is the key to understand the formation of this type of galaxies. The tidal-torque theory tries to explain this acquisition process in a cosmological…
The Lindblad master equation is a foundational tool for modeling the dynamics of open quantum systems. As its use has extended far beyond its original domain, the boundaries of its validity have grown opaque. In particular, the rise of new…
Context: Because of our viewing point within the Galactic disc, it is extremely difficult to observe the spiral structure of the Milky Way. Aims: To clarify the structure of the Galaxy by re-examination of gas distributions and data from…
In the solar-neighbourhood, older stars have larger random velocities than younger ones. It is argued that the increase in velocity dispersion with time is predominantly a gradual process rather than one induced by discrete events such as…
Many aspects concerning the formation of spiral and disc galaxies remain unresolved, despite their discovery and detailed study over the past $150$ years. As such, we present the results of an observational search for proto-spiral galaxies…
Recent discoveries of strongly misaligned transiting exoplanets pose a challenge to the established planet formation theory which assumes planetary systems to form and evolve in isolation. However, the fact that the majority of stars…
Frankel et al (2020) reported that the rate of diffusion in angular momentum by stars in the disk of the Milky Way was about ten times faster than the rate of heating, which places a stringent requirement on the nature of disk star…
We review the topic of rotation curves of spiral galaxies emphasizing the standard interpretation as evidence for the existence of dark matter halos. Galaxies other than spirals and late-type dwarfs may also possess great amounts of dark…
The 100,000-year problem concerns the dominant period of glacial-interglacial cycles over the past 800,000 years and their correlation with Earth's orbital eccentricity, despite eccentricity's weak influence on solar radiation. Two theories…
Poincar\'e's work more than one century ago, or Laskar's numerical simulations from the 1990's on, have irrevocably impaired the long-held belief that the Solar System should be stable. But mathematical mechanisms explaining this…
The formation of elliptical galaxies as a result of the merging of spiral galaxies is discussed. We analyse a large set of numerical N-Body merger simulations which show that major mergers can in principle explain the observed isophotal…
We present K'(2.1 micron) observations of four nearby flocculent spirals, which clearly show low-level spiral structure and suggest that kiloparsec-scale spiral structure is more prevalent in flocculent spirals than previously supposed. In…
Swing amplification is a model of spiral arm formation in disk galaxies. Previous $N$-body simulations show that the epicycle phases of stars in spiral arms are synchronized. However, the elementary process of the phase synchronization is…
Observations of massive stars within the central parsec of the Galaxy show that, while most stars orbit within a well-defined disc, a significant fraction have large eccentricities and / or inclinations with respect to the disc plane. Here,…
Spiral structure is the most distinctive feature of disk galaxies and yet debate persists about which theory of spiral structure is the correct one. Many versions of the density wave theory demand that the pitch angle is uniquely determined…
Much of our effort in understanding the long-term evolution and morphology of the Milky Way and other galaxies has focused on the equilibrium of its luminous disk. However, the interplay between all components, seen and unseen, is a major…
In an equilibrium axisymmetric galactic disc, the mean galactocentric radial and vertical velocities are expected to be zero everywhere. In recent years, various large spectroscopic surveys have however shown that stars of the Milky Way…
The frequency of barred spiral galaxies as a function of redshift contains important information on the gravitational influence of stellar disks in their dark matter halos and also may distinguish between contemporary theories for the…
The Milky Way's neutral hydrogen (HI) disk is warped and flared. However, a dearth of accurate HI-based distances has thus far prevented the development of an accurate Galactic disk model. Moreover, the extent to which our Galaxy's stellar…
The turbulent environment from which stars form may lead to misalignment between the stellar spin and the remnant protoplanetary disk. By using hydrodynamic and magnetohydrodynamic simulations, we demonstrate that a wide range of stellar…