Related papers: Spiral Structure Dynamics in Pure Stellar Disk Mod…
Single-armed, stationary density waves can propagate in very weakly self-gravitating gas disks dominated by a central mass. Examples include circumstellar disks of protostars and molecular disks in galactic nuclei. We explore the linear 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…
There are two theories of stellar spiral arms in isolated disc galaxies that model stellar spiral arms with different longevities: quasi-stationary density wave theory, which characterises spirals as rigidly rotating, long-lived patterns…
Recent developments in computer hardware and software enable researchers to simulate the self-gravitating evolution of galaxies at a resolution comparable to the actual number of stars. Here we present the results of a series of such…
We employ very high resolution simulations of isolated Milky Way-like galaxies to study the effect of triaxial dark matter haloes on exponential stellar discs. Non-adiabatic halo shape changes can trigger two-armed grand-design spiral…
The way in which radial flows shape galaxy structure and evolution remains an open question. Internal drivers of such flows, such as bars and spiral arms, known to mediate gas flows in the local Universe, are now observable at high redshift…
The evolution of large-scale magnetic fields in disk galaxies is investigated numerically. The gasdynamical simulations in a disk perturbed by spiral or bar potential are incorporated into the kinematic calculations of induction equations…
I review recent progress from $N$-body simulations in our understanding of the secular evolution of isolated disk galaxies. I describe some of the recent controversies in the field which have been commonly attributed to numerics. The…
Non-axisymmetric components, such as spirals and central bars, play a major role in shaping galactic discs. An important aspect of the disc secular evolution driven by these perturbers is the radial migration of stars. It has been suggested…
We numerically study the origin of the multi-armed spiral structure observed in the circumnuclear gaseous mini-disks of nearby galaxies. We show that the presence of dust in such disks and its interaction with the gravitationally stable…
Studying star formation in spiral arms tells us not only about the evolution of star formation, and molecular clouds, but can also tell us about the nature of spiral structure in galaxies. I will address both these topics using the results…
We present a general recipe for constructing N-body realizations of galaxies comprised of near-spherical and disc components. First, an exact spherical distribution function for the spheroids (halo & bulge) is determined, such that it is in…
The near proportionality between HI and dark matter in outer galactic disks prompted us to run N-body simulations of galactic disks in which the observed gas content is supplemented by a dark gas component representing between zero and five…
Spiral arms, if they are massive, exert gravitational torques that transport angular momentum radially within galactic disks. These torques depend not on the pattern speed or permanence of the arms but only on the nonaxisymmetric mass…
We investigate the evolution of galactic disks in N-body Tree-SPH simulations. We find that disks, initially truncated at three scale-lengths, can triple their radial extent, solely driven by secular evolution. Both Type I (single…
We present gravitational N-body simulations of the secular morphological evolution of disk galaxies induced by density wave modes. In particular, we address the demands collective effects place on the choice of simulation parameters, and…
Using high-resolution N-body simulations we study the stellar properties of dwarf spheroidal galaxies resulting from the tidally induced morphological transformation of disky dwarfs on a cosmologically motivated eccentric orbit around the…
This paper, the first of two, introduces an observational study of spiral structure in galaxies chosen from the SINGS survey. Near infrared (NIR) and optical data are used to produce mass surface density maps, and from these the morphology…
The phase spiral is a perturbation to the vertical phase-space distribution of stars in the Milky Way disk. We study the phase spiral's properties and how they vary with spatial position, in order to constrain its origin and evolution, as…
Irradiation from the central star controls the temperature structure in protoplanetary discs. Yet simulations of gravitational instability typically use models of stellar irradiation with varying complexity, or ignore it altogether,…