Related papers: Chaos in elliptical galaxies
The evolution of galaxies is governed by equations with chaotic solutions: gravity and compressible hydrodynamics. While this micro-scale chaos and stochasticity has been well studied, it is poorly understood how it couples to macro-scale…
For a sample of 22 core ellipticals and 22 power law ellipticals, I examine the apparent axis ratios of isophotes as a function of the dynamical time at the isophote's mean radius. The two types of elliptical galaxy have a significantly…
We investigate the stability of trajectories in barred galaxies with mildly triaxial halos by means of Liapunov exponents. This method is perfectly suitable for time-dependent 3D potentials where surfaces of sections and other simple…
Elliptical galaxies are the main contributors to the chemical enrichment of the intracluster and intergalactic medium; understanding how they form and evolve enables us to get important hints on the amounts of energy and processed matter…
Recent work on the dynamics of triaxial stellar systems is reviewed. The motion of boxlike orbits in realistic triaxial potentials is generically stochastic. The degree to which the stochasticity manifests itself in the dynamics depends on…
Several conclusions have been reached over the last few years concerning high-redshift galaxies: (1) The excess of faint blue galaxies is due to dwarf galaxies. (2) Star formation peaks at redshifts z ~1-2. (3) It appears to occur piecemeal…
We have constructed fully self-consistent models of triaxial galaxies with central density cusps. The triaxial generalizations of Dehnen's spherical models are presented, which have densities that vary as 1/r^gamma near the center and 1/r^4…
Dissipationless N-body models of rotating galaxies, iso-energetic to a non-rotating model, are examined as regards the mass in regular and in chaotic motion. The values of their spin parameters $\lambda$ are near the value $\lambda=0.22$ of…
Schwarzschild models of a Plummer sphere were constructed and compared with analytical results to test the robustness of Schwarzschild's method and its efficiency in probing the degeneracy of the solution space. The method was then used to…
Geodesic dynamics is regular in the fields of isolated stationary black holes. However, due to the presence of unstable periodic orbits, it easily becomes chaotic under various perturbations. Here we examine what amount of chaoticity is…
This is the summary chapter of a review book on galaxy bulges. Bulge properties and formation histories are more varied than those of ellipticals. I emphasize two advances: 1 - "Classical bulges" are observationally indistinguishable from…
We consider the hydrodynamic stability of homogeneous, incompressible and rotating ellipsoidal fluid masses. The latter are the simplest models of fluid celestial bodies with internal rotation and subjected to tidal forces. The classical…
We analyze the evolution of cosmological perturbations in the cyclic model, paying particular attention to their behavior and interplay over multiple cycles. Our key results are: (1) galaxies and large scale structure present in one cycle…
Chaos as typical property of non-linear systems has revealed its crucial role in various problems of astrophysics and cosmology. The problems discussed at these lectures include planetary dynamics, galactic dynamics, reconstruction of the…
Self-consistent solutions for triaxial mass models are highly non-unique. In general, some of these solutions might be dynamically unstable, making them inappropriate as descriptions of steady-state galaxies. Here we demonstrate for the…
Disc galaxies commonly show asymmetric features in their morphology, such as warps and lopsidedness. These features can provide key information regarding the recent evolution of a given disc galaxy. In the nearby Universe, up to $\sim30$…
We study the orbital structure of a self-consistent N-body equilibrium configuration of a barred galaxy constructed from cosmological initial conditions. The value of its spin parameter L is near the observed value of our Galaxy L=0.22. We…
Massive galaxies, such as nearby ellipticals, have relatively low number densities, yet they host the majority of the stellar mass in the universe. Understanding their origin is a central problem of galaxy formation. Age dating of stellar…
Self-gravitating systems of $N$ particles are chaotic. We wonder how chaotic the Galaxy is, and what the consequences are. We therefore simulate the dynamical evolution of a galaxy-scale distribution of point masses in order to measure the…
The discovery of proto-globular cluster candidates in many current-day mergers allows us to better understand the possible effects of a merger event on the globular cluster system of a galaxy, and to foresee the properties of the…