Related papers: The Lifetime of Grand Design
The rate of internally-driven evolution of galaxy discs is strongly affected by the lifetimes of the spiral patterns they support. Evolution is much faster if the spiral patterns are recurrent short-lived transients rather than long-lived,…
Current theories of spiral and bar structure predict a variety of pattern speed behaviors, calling for detailed, direct measurement of the radial variation of pattern speeds. Our recently developed Radial Tremaine-Weinberg (TWR) method…
The grand-design spiral galaxy M51 has long been a crucial target for theories of spiral structure. Studies of this iconic spiral can address the question of whether strong spiral structure is transient (e.g. interaction-driven) or…
The Tremaine-Weinberg equations are solved for a pattern speed that is allowed to vary with radius. The solution method transforms an integral equation for the pattern speed to a least squares problem with well established procedures for…
Theories that attempt to explain the dynamical relationship between bar and spiral patterns in galactic disks make different predictions about the radial profile of the pattern speed. These are tested for the H-alpha bar and spiral patterns…
Spiral galaxies displaying molecule-dominated ISMs are potential candidates for pattern speed determination by the Tremaine-Weinberg (TW) method (1984); the molecular gas of such galaxies, as traced by CO emission, is argued to…
We investigate pattern speeds in spiral galaxies where the structure is induced by an interaction with a companion galaxy. We perform calculations modeling the response of the stellar and/or gaseous components of a disc. Generally we do not…
Meidt et al. 2015 derived short lifetimes of 20-30Myr for giant molecular clouds (GMCs) in M51. Their novel approach utilizes a decline of the GMC population during their inter-arm passage from one spiral arm to the next. Using the…
In the density wave theory of spiral structure, the grand-design two-armed spiral pattern is taken to rotate rigidly in a galactic disc with a constant, definite pattern speed. The observational measurement of the pattern speed of the…
We propose a simple analytic theory for environmentally-dependent molecular cloud lifetimes, based on the large-scale (galactic) dynamics of the interstellar medium. Within this theory, the cloud lifetime is set by the time-scales for…
A long-standing controversy in studies of spiral structure has concerned the lifetimes of individual spiral patterns. Much theoretical work has sought quasi-stationary spiral modes while N-body simulations have consistently displayed…
In the last few decades many efforts have been made to understand the effect of spiral arms on the gas and stellar dynamics in the Milky Way disc. One of the fundamental parameters of the spiral structure is its angular velocity, or pattern…
In the 60's, Prof. Stroemgren proposed to use space velocities and ages of moderately young stars to compute their places of formation in order to study the spiral structure in the Galaxy. We have extended this idea to very young stellar…
We apply the Tremaine-Weinberg method of pattern speed determination to data cubes of CO emission in six spiral galaxies from the BIMA SONG survey each with an ISM dominated by molecular gas. We compare derived pattern speeds with estimates…
Spiral patterns are important agents of galaxy evolution. In this review, I describe how the redistribution of angular momentum by recurrent transient spiral patterns causes the random speeds of stars to rise over time, metallicity…
The rotation velocity of the spiral pattern of the Galaxy is determined by direct observation of the birthplaces of open clusters of stars in the galactic disk as a function of their age. Our measurement does not depend on any specific…
The origin of grand design spiral structure in galaxies is still under debate but one of promising scenarios involves tidal interactions. We use N-body simulations to study the evolution of a Milky Way-size galaxy in a Virgo-like cluster.…
At the intersection of galactic dynamics, evolution and global structure, issues such as the relation between bars and spirals and the persistence of spiral patterns can be addressed through the characterization of the angular speeds of the…
The presence of spiral structure in isolated galaxies is a problem that has only been partially explained by theoretical models. Because the rate and pattern of star formation in the disk must depend only on mechanisms internal to the disk,…
We have used the Tremaine-Weinberg method to measure the angular speed of rotation for the bar in the SB0 galaxy NGC 936. With this technique, the bar's pattern speed, Omega_p, can be derived from the luminosity and stellar-kinematic…