Related papers: Distribution functions for evolved stars in the in…
Both fuelling of a central black hole and the build-up of bulges are -- at least theoretically -- facilitated by non-axisymmetric potentials. It is argued here that the recently established surface brightness division between…
A mathematical model of the distribution function for the discrete 3-disk is proposed in order to utilize in the statistical evolution equation of the 3-dimensional Universe. The model distribution is constructed based on analyses in known…
We introduce a new class of 2-D mass models, whose potentials are of St\"ackel form in elliptic coordinates. Our model galaxies have two separate strong cusps that form double nuclei. The potential and surface density distributions are…
A three-dimensional hydrodynamical N-body model for the formation of the Galaxy is presented with special attention to the formation of the bulge component. Starting with cosmologically motivated initial conditions, we obtain a…
The centre of the Milky Way is occupied by a nuclear star cluster, which contains the supermassive black hole Sgr A*. The cluster is embedded in the larger surrounding nuclear stellar disc. These three components dominate the mass budget of…
We aim at a detailed description of the kinematic properties of the old, (several Gyrs) late-type CO-absorption star population among the Galactic centre (GC) cluster stars. We applied AO-assisted, near-infrared imaging and integral-field…
Stellar light from an AGB star is scattered by the circumstellar dust and polarized in the direction perpendicular to the source. Therefore, images of circumstellar envelopes around AGB stars in polarized light traces the dust distribution…
Most stars form in compact, dense embedded clusters with memberships ranging from a dozen stars to many millions of stars. Embedded clusters containing more than a few hundred stars also contain O stars that disrupt the nebula abruptly.…
As heating processes can broaden the distributions of radial actions and the vertical distributions of the Galactic disks, we investigate the vertical distribution of the Galactic disks as a function of radial action based on Apache Point…
In this chapter the focus is on the properties of post-Asymptotic Giant Branch (post-AGB) stars in binary systems. Their Spectral Energy Distributions (SEDs) are very characteristic: they show a near-infrared excess, indicative of the…
Results of recent observations of the Galactic bulge demand that we discard a simple picture of its formation, suggesting the presence of two stellar populations represented by two peaks of stellar metallicity distribution (MDF) in the…
Context: The environmental conditions for asympotic giant branch (AGB) stars to reach the carbon-rich (C-rich) phase are important to understand the evolutionary process of AGB stars. The difference between the spatial distributions of…
We report proper motion dispersions for stars in the direction of two fields of the Galactic bulge, using HST/WFPC2 images taken six years apart. Our two fields are Baade's Window (l,b)=(1.13,-3.77) and Sgr I (l,b)=(1.25 ,-2.65). Our proper…
Observations reveal that mature spiral galaxies consist of stars, gases and plasma approximately distributed in a thin disk of circular shape, usually with a central bulge. The rotation velocities quickly increase from the galactic center…
We analyse the phase-space structure of simulated thick discs that are the result of a significant merger between a disc galaxy and a satellite. Our main goal is to establish what would be the characteristic imprints of a merger origin for…
Orbital properties of stars, computed from their six-dimensional phase space measurements and an assumed Galactic potential, are used to understand the structure and evolution of the Galaxy. Stellar actions, computed from orbits, have the…
Scattering of stars by interstellar clouds or massive clumps increases the stellar velocity dispersion and promotes a radial disk profile that is exponential. Here we show that such scattering reaches a steady-state distribution function of…
Structure of a quasi-stationary stellar cluster is modelled assuming that it is embedded in the gravitational field of a super-massive black hole. Gradual orbital decay of stellar trajectories is caused by the dissipative interaction with…
We have developed a two-dimensional orbit averaged Fokker-Planck model of stellar clusters which expands on spherically symmetric one-dimensional models to include rotation and ellipticity. Physical effects such as collisions, finite…
Internal dynamical evolution can drive stellar systems into states of high central density. For many star clusters and galactic nuclei, the time scale on which this occurs is significantly less than the age of the universe. As a result,…