Related papers: A novel method to bracket the corotation radius in…
Decoding the key dynamical processes that shape the Galactic disk structure is crucial for reconstructing the Milky Way's evolution history. The second Gaia data release unveils a novel wave pattern in the $L_Z-\langle V_R\rangle$ space,…
We applied the currently most comprehensive version of the statistical-parallax technique to derive kinematical parameters of the maser sample with 136 sources. Our kinematic model comprises the overall rotation of the Galactic disk and the…
Near the corotation resonance of a transient spiral arm, stellar orbital angular momenta may be changed without inducing significant kinematic heating, resulting in what has come to be known as radial migration. When radial migration is…
Spiral density wave theories demand that grand design spiral structure be bounded, at most, between the inner and outer Lindblad resonances of the spiral pattern. The corotation resonance lies between the outer and inner Lindblad…
We investigate the use of spiral arm pitch angles as a probe of disk galaxy mass profiles. We confirm our previous result that spiral arm pitch angles (P) are well correlated with the rate of shear (S) in disk galaxy rotation curves. We use…
A brief review is given of different methods used to determine the pattern speeds of the Galactic bar and spiral arms. The Galactic bar rotates rapidly, with corotation about halfway between the Galactic center and the Sun, and outer…
We apply the vertical Jeans equation to the Milky Way disk, in order to study non-axisymmetric variations in the thin disk surface density. We divide the disk plane into area cells with a 100 pc grid spacing, and use four separate subsets…
We study the azimuthal structure of the stellar disks of 18 face-on spiral galaxies, using K-band photometry to trace the stellar surface mass density. Assuming the disks are co-planar, we characterize their deviation from axisymmetry by…
Spiral arms have been observed in nearly a dozen protoplanetary discs in near-infrared scattered light and recently also in the sub-millimetre continuum. While one of the most compelling explanations is that they are driven by planetary or…
The most important theory of the spiral arms of galaxies is the density wave theory based on the Lin-Shu dispersion relation. However, the density waves move with the group velocity towards the inner Lindblad resonance and tend to…
Recently, high angular resolution imaging instruments such as SPHERE and GPI have discovered many spiral-arm-like features in near-infrared scattered light images of protoplanetary disks. Theory and simulations have suggested that these…
Scattered light images of transition discs in the near-infrared often show non-axisymmetric structures in the form of wide-open spiral arms in addition to their characteristic low-opacity inner gap region. We study self-gravitating discs…
We have measured the intrinsic disk ellipticity for 7 nearby, nearly face-on spiral galaxies by combining Densepak integral-field spectroscopy with I-band imaging from the WIYN telescope. Initially assuming an axisymmetric model, we…
We consider a differentially rotating, 2D stellar disk perturbed by two steady state spiral density waves moving at different patterns speeds. Our investigation is based on direct numerical integration of initially circular test-particle…
The density-wave theory of galactic spiral-arm structure makes a striking prediction that the pitch angle of spiral arms should vary with the wavelength of the galaxy's image. The reason is that stars are born in the density wave but move…
We develop diagnostics to detect the presence and orientation of a bar in an edge-on disk, using its kinematical signature in the position-velocity diagram (PVD) of a spiral galaxy observed edge-on. Using a well-studied barred spiral galaxy…
We have imaged a sample of 45 face-on spiral galaxies in the K-band, to determine the morphology of the old stellar population, which dominates the mass in the disk. The K-band images of the spiral galaxies have been used to calculate…
Some circumstellar disks are observed to show prominent spiral arms in infrared scattered light or (sub-)millimeter dust continuum. The spirals might be formed from self-gravity, shadows, or planet-disk interactions. Recently, it was…
Large-scale spiral arms have been revealed in scattered light images of a few protoplanetary disks. Theoretical models suggest that such arms may be driven by and co-rotate with giant planets, which has called for remarkable observational…
We consider a differentially rotating, 2D stellar disk perturbed by two steady state spiral density waves moving at different patterns speeds. Our investigation is based on direct numerical integration of initially circular test-particle…