Related papers: Dynamical Processes in the Central Kpc and Active …
The formation and evolution of galactic disks are complex phenomena, where gas and star dynamics are coupled through star formation and the related feedback. The physical processes are so numerous and intricate that numerical models focus,…
A historical review of our understanding of bulges is first presented, highlighting similarities and differences between bulges and ellipticals. Then, some topics of current interest are reviewed, bypassing stellar population questions and…
In the last decade, a combination of high sensitivity, high spatial resolution observations and of coordinated multi-wavelength surveys has revolutionized our view of extra-galactic black hole (BH) astrophysics. We now know that…
We present results of a high-resolution imaging survey of barred S0--Sa galaxies which demonstrate that the central regions of these galaxies are surprisingly complex. We see many inner bars --- small, secondary bars (typically less than a…
We investigate the formation and evolution of galactic disks immersed in assembling live DM halos. Disk/halo components have been evolved from the cosmological initial conditions and represent the collapse of an isolated density…
It has long been suspected that Active Galactic Nuclei are powered by accretion of matter onto massive black holes and this belief implies their presence in the nuclei of most nearby galaxies as "relics" of past activity. Just a few years…
We have performed Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamic (SPH) simulations to study the response of molecular clouds in the Galactic disk to a rotating bar and their subsequent evolution in the Galactic Center (GC) region. The Galactic potential in…
The consequences of nuclear black holes for the structure and dynamics of stellar spheroids are reviewed. Slow growth of a black hole in a pre-existing core produces a steep power-law density profile similar to the cusps seen in faint…
Observations of AGN have suggested a possible delay between the peak of star formation (on some scale) and AGN activity. Inefficient fueling (and/or feedback) from fast stellar winds has been invoked to explain this, but we argue this is…
Stellar bars can lead to gas inflow toward the center of a galaxy and stimulate nuclear star formation. However, there is no compelling evidence on whether they also feed a central supermassive black hole: by measuring the fractions of…
Secular evolution and fueling is driven by bars in spiral galaxies, and the related dynamical processes are reviewed. It is shown that gravity torques dominate over viscous torques, and produce gas infall to the center. In this infall, the…
A new picture accounting for the dominant features in the observed l-V distribution of the Milky Way gas within the central few kpcs is proposed, based on symmetry-free and high resolution 3D N-body and SPH simulations.
We study the relation between nuclear massive black holes and their host spheroid gravitational potential. Using AMR numerical simulations, we analyze how gas is transported in the nuclear (central kpc) regions of galaxies. We study the gas…
I review some of the work on bars which is closely linked to the bar/bulge system in our Galaxy. Several independent studies, using totally independent methods, come to the same results about the 3D structure of a bar, i.e., that a bar is…
Recent work on the dynamical evolution of galactic nuclei containing supermassive black holes is reviewed. Topics include galaxy structural properties; collisionless and collisional equilibria; loss-cone dynamics; and dynamics of binary and…
We present optical broad- and narrow-band imaging of a sample of a dozen barred galaxies. These images are analyzed in conjunction with our previously published near-infrared imaging of their central regions and with literature values for,…
We review the observational evidences concerning the three-dimensional structure of the Galactic bulge. Although the inner few kpc of our Galaxy are normally referred to as {\it the bulge}, all the observations demonstrate that this region…
The structure, kinematics and dynamics of the Galactic stellar halo are reviewed including evidence of substructure in the spatial distribution and kinematics of halo stars. Implications for galaxy formation theory are subsequently…
We study bar formation in galactic disks as a consequence of the collision of two spiral galaxies under the influence of a potential which is obtained from the Newtonian limit of a scalar--tensor theory of gravity. We found that dynamical…
When bars form within galaxy formation simulations in the standard cosmological context, dynamical friction with dark matter (DM) causes them to rotate rather slowly. However, almost all observed galactic bars are fast in terms of the ratio…