Related papers: Probing the Galaxy's bars via the Hercules stream
In an effort to obtain further observational evidences for secular evolution processes in galaxies, as well as observational constraints to current theoretical models of secular evolution, we have used BVRI and Ks images of a sample of 18…
Recent observations have found a 1700 km/s star [S5-HVS1] that was ejected from the Galactic Center approximately five million years ago. This star was likely produced by tidal disruption of a binary. In particular, the Galactic Center…
Stellar streams have proven to be powerful tools for measuring the Milky Way's gravitational potential and hence its dark matter halo. In the coming years, Vera Rubin, Euclid, ARRAKIHS, and NGRST will uncover a plethora of streams around…
We present new observations of the strongly-barred galaxy NGC 1365, including new photometric images and Fabry-Perot spectroscopy, as well as a detailed re-analysis of the neutral hydrogen observations from the VLA archive. We find the…
The tumbling pattern of a bar is the main parameter characterising its dynamics. From numerical simulations, its evolution since bar formation is tightly linked to the dark halo in which the bar is formed through dynamical friction and…
Our recent studies of axial-symmetry breaking in the nearby ($d <3 \,{\rm kpc}$) star counts are sensitive to the distortions of stellar orbits perpendicular and parallel to the orientation of the bar just within and beyond the outer…
The buckling process in stellar bars is full of unsolved issues. We analyze the origin of the buckling instability in stellar bars using high-resolution N-body simulations. Previous studies have promoted the nonresonant firehose instability…
The life of disk galaxies is likely punctuated with the birth (spontaneous or induced), the aging (quick or slow), and the death (sudden or progressive) of bars. These events are responsible for various major changes of the galaxy which…
Our Sun lies within 300 pc of the 2.7-kpc-long sinusoidal chain of dense gas clouds known as the Radcliffe Wave. The structure's wave-like shape was discovered using 3D dust mapping, but initial kinematic searches for oscillatory motion…
Studies of the dynamics of globular clusters assume different values of bar parameters (mass, velocity, size) and analyse the results of orbit classifications over the range of the chosen values. It is also a usual thing that a spherical…
Using high resolution N-body simulations of stellar disks embedded in cosmologically motivated dark matter halos, we study the evolution of bars and the transfer of angular momentum between halos and bars. We find that dynamical friction…
We have obtained two-dimensional velocity fields in the ionized gas of a set of 8 double-barred galaxies, at high spatial and spectral resolution, using their H$\alpha$ emission fields measured with a scanning Fabry-Perot spectrometer.…
We compute a microlensing map for the Galactic bar. The predicted event rate and event duration distribution are consistent with the $55$ events recently reported by the MACHO and OGLE collaborations. Most of the events are due to lensing…
Gas flows in the presence of two independently-rotating nested bars remain not fully understood, which is likely to play an important role in fueling the central black hole. We use high-resolution hydrodynamical simulations with detailed…
Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) require mass accretion onto the central engine. On large galactic scales, torques from a stellar bar can efficiently remove angular momentum from gas, and cause it to move inwards along two hydrodynamical shocks…
Using $N$-body simulations we study the buckling instability in a galactic bar forming in a Milky Way-like galaxy. The galaxy is initially composed of an axisymmetric, exponential stellar disk embedded in a spherical dark matter halo. The…
Stars aligned in thin stream-like features (feathers), with widths of $\delta\sim1-10^{\circ}$ and lengths as large as $\Delta l\sim180^{\circ}$, have been observed towards the Anticenter of our Galaxy and their properties mapped in…
We analyze how the orbital support of the inner bar in a double-barred galaxy (nested bars) depends on the angular velocity (i.e. pattern speed) of this bar. We study orbits in seven models of double bars using the method of invariant…
I review both well established and more recent findings on the properties of bars, and their host galaxies, stemming from photometric and spectroscopic observations, and discuss how these findings can be understood in terms of a global…
Recent observational constraints restrict the strict applicability of stellar dynamics in spirals to a few rotation periods. However, stellar dynamics concepts such as periodic orbits are invaluable for understanding the various dynamical…