Related papers: On the Stability of Tidal Streams
We describe a technique that finds orbits through the Galaxy that are consistent with measurements of a tidal stream, taking into account the extent that tidal streams do not precisely delineate orbits. We show that if accurate…
We discuss how to use tidal streams from globular clusters to measure the mass distribution of the Milky Way. Recent proper motion determinations for globular clusters from plate measurements and Hipparcos astrometry provide several good…
We simulate the tidal disruption of a collisionless N-body globular star cluster in a total of 300 different orbits selected to have galactocentric radii between 10 and 30 kpc in four dark matter halos: (a) a spherical halo with no…
We present a study of the effects of collisional dynamics on the formation and detectability of cold tidal streams. A semi-analytical model for the evolution of the stellar mass function was implemented and coupled to a fast stellar stream…
The linear stability of rapid granular flow on a slope under gravity against the longitudinal perturbation is analyzed using hydrodynamic equations. It is demonstrated that the steady flow uniform along the flow direction becomes unstable…
We present two spectroscopic surveys of the tidal stellar stream of the Palomar 5 globular cluster, undertaken with the VLT/FLAMES and AAT/AAOmega instruments. We use these data in conjunction with photometric data presented in the previous…
The well-known Jeans criterion describes the onset of instabilities in an infinite, homogeneous, self-gravitating medium supported by pressure. Most realistic astrophysical systems, however, are not isolated - instead they are under the…
We examine the longitudinal distribution of the stars escaping from a cluster along tidal tails. Using both theory and simulations, we show that, even in the case of a star cluster in a circular galactic orbit, when the tide is steady, the…
Tidal streams provide a powerful tool by means of which the matter distribution of the dark matter halos of their host galaxies can be studied. However, the analysis is not straightforward because streams do not delineate orbits, and for…
The well known Jeans instability is studied for a viscoelastic, gravitational fluid using generalized hydrodynamic equations of motions. It is found that the threshold for the onset of instability appears at higher wavelengths in a…
Thin stellar streams, formed from the tidal disruption of globular clusters, are important gravitational tools, sensitive to both global and small-scale properties of dark matter. The Palomar 5 stellar stream (Pal 5) is an exemplar stream…
Gravity plays important roles at multiple scales in the universe. An important, yet often neglected, role of gravity is its ability in driving anisotropic fragmentation through tides. When tides dominate, fragmentation becomes anisotropic,…
We study the gravitational stability of gaseous streams in the complex environment of a galaxy merger, because mergers are known to be places of ongoing massive cluster formation and bursts of star formation. We find an analytic stability…
Several studies have already considered the influence of tides on the evolution of systems composed of a star and a close-in companion to tentatively explain different observations such as the spin-up of some stars with hot Jupiters, the…
Elliptical instability is due to a parametric resonance of two inertial modes in a fluid velocity field with elliptical streamlines. This flow is a simple model of the motion in a tidally deformed, rotating body. Elliptical instability…
We present an analysis of the mechanics of thin streams, which are formed following the tidal disruption of cold, low-mass clusters in the potential of a massive host galaxy. The analysis makes extensive use of action-angle variables, in…
Dark matter sub-halos that pass near or through a thin tidal star stream locally increase its velocity dispersion. Subsequent orbital evolution further increases the velocity dispersion and stream width, lowering the surface density of a…
Flat rotation curves v(r) are naturally explained by elongated (prolate) Dark Matter (DM) distributions, and we have provided competitive fits to the SPARC database. To further probe the geometry of the halo one needs out-of-plane…
We investigate the Jeans instability of a galactic disk embedded in a dynamically responsive dark halo. It is shown that the disk-halo system becomes nominally Jeans unstable. On small scales the instability is suppressed, if the Toomre…
The cold dark matter picture predicts an abundance of substructure within the Galactic halo. However, most substructures host no stars and can only be detected indirectly. Stellar streams present a promising probe of this dark substructure.…