Related papers: Dynamics of Disks and Warps
In a series of papers, we propose a theory to explain the formation and properties of rings and spirals in barred galaxies. The building blocks of these structures are orbits guided by the manifolds emanating from the unstable Lagrangian…
We present a new mechanism to explain the frequently observed and thus certainly permanent warping of spiral galaxies. We consider the possibility of non-linear coupling between the spiral wave of the galaxy and two warp waves, such that…
This review introduces physical processes in protoplanetary disks relevant to accretion and the initial stages of planet formation. After a brief overview of the observational context, I introduce the elementary theory of disk structure and…
The star formation process in molecular clouds usually leads to the formation of multiple stellar systems, mostly binaries. Remaining disks around those stars may be located around individual stars (circumstellar disks) or around the entire…
We review general observational properties of bars in galaxies, and relations between bars, their dynamics, and (circum)nuclear activity. We consider new measurements of bar fractions and of the distribution of bars with host type, bar…
Astrophysical discs are warped whenever a misalignment is present in the system, or when a flat disc is made unstable by external forces. The evolution of the shape and mass distribution of a warped disc is driven not only by external…
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…
Secular evolution gradually shapes galaxies by internal processes, in contrast to early cosmological evolution which is more rapid. An important driver of secular evolution is the flow of gas from the disk into the central regions, often…
The role of dark matter halos in galaxy disk evolution is reviewed, in particular the stabilisation of disks through self-gravity reduction, or the bar development through angular momentum exchange. Triaxial dark halos tend to weaken bars.…
Galaxy morphology has many structures that are suggestive of various processes or stages of secular evolution. Internal perturbations such as bars can drive secular evolution through gravity torques that move gas into the central regions…
Most of the visible mass in a typical spiral galaxy is distributed in a thin disk, with a radial extent much larger than its thickness. While the planar disk structure, including non-axisymmetric features such as spiral structure, has been…
A galaxy disk embedded in a rotating halo experiences a dynamical friction force which causes it to warp when the angular momentum axes of the disk and halo are misaligned. Our fully self-consistent simulations of this process induce…
Recent results are reviewed on galaxy dynamics, bar evolution, destruction and re-formation, cold gas accretion, gas radial flows and AGN fueling, minor mergers. Some problems of galaxy evolution are discussed in particular, exchange of…
Spiral arms are the defining features of broad morphological classes of disc galaxies, but their nature and influence on galaxy evolution is still under debate. A key diagnostic for their nature is the spiral arm pattern speed: the radial…
We review progress in understanding the formation of galactic disks in the standard cosmogonic scenario involving gravitational clustering of baryons and dark matter and dissipative collapse of the baryons. This scenario accounts remarkably…
Long tails and streams of stars are the most noticeable upshots of galaxy collisions. Their origin as gravitational, tidal, disturbances has however been recognized only less than fifty years ago and more than ten years after their first…
The evolution of the Milky Way disk, which contains most of the stars in the Galaxy, is affected by several phenomena. For example, the bar and the spiral arms of the Milky Way induce radial migration of stars and can trap or scatter stars…
In this and in a previous paper (Romero-Gomez et al. 2006) we propose a theory to explain the formation of both spirals and rings in barred galaxies using a common dynamical framework. It is based on the orbital motion driven by the…
Recent work on the dynamical evolution of galactic nuclei containing supermassive black holes is reviewed. Topics include galaxy structural properties; collisionless and collisional equilibria; loss-cone dynamics; and dynamics of binary and…
In order to address the question of whether spiral disturbances in galaxy discs are gravitationally coupled to the halo, we conduct simulations of idealized models of disc galaxies. We compare growth rates of spiral instabilities in…