Related papers: Special Features of Galactic Dynamics
Dark energy is one of the deepest puzzles in modern cosmology, and mounting evidence suggests that it is not just a cosmological constant but a genuinely dynamical component. Although cosmology and dynamical systems theory emerged from…
Galactic disk formation requires knowledge about the initial conditions under which disk galaxies form, the boundary conditions that affect their secular evolution and the micro-physical processes that drive the multi-phase interstellar…
Results from kinematic observations of the central regions of spiral galaxies are reviewed, with particular emphasis on starburst and AGN hosts. While morphological studies lead to important insight, a more complete understanding of the…
The physical processes defining the dynamics of disk galaxies are still poorly understood. Hundreds of articles have appeared in the literature over the last decades without arriving at an understanding within a consistent gravitational…
Mapping the dark matter distribution across our Galaxy represents a central challenge for the near future as a new generation of space-borne and ground-based astronomical surveys swiftly comes online. Here we present a synopsis of the…
The last fifteen years have seen the discovery of new types of low-mass stellar systems that bridge the gap between the once well-separated regimes of galaxies and of star clusters. Whether such objects are considered galaxies depends also…
A general overview of the understanding of our Galaxy is presented following the lines of its main structures: halo, disc, bulge/bar. This review is emphasising some "Time Domain Astronomy" contributions. On the one hand the distance and…
This chapter explores the physics shared by planetary rings and the various disks that populate the Universe. It begins with an observational overview, ranging from protoplanetary disks to spiral galaxies, and then compares and contrasts…
This pedagogical review addresses several issues related to statistical description of gravitating systems in both static and expanding backgrounds, focusing on the latter. After briefly reviewing the results for the static background, I…
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,…
Our Galaxy, the Milky Way, is a benchmark for understanding disk galaxies. It is the only galaxy whose formation history can be studied using the full distribution of stars from white dwarfs to supergiants. The oldest components provide us…
The origin of the galaxies represents an important focus of current cosmological research, both observational and theoretical. Its resolution involves a comprehensive understanding of star formation, galaxy dynamics, the cosmology of the…
The importance of angular momentum in regulating the sizes of galactic disks and by this their star formation history is highlighted. Tidal torques and accretion of satellites in principle provide enough angular momentum to form disks with…
This set of lecture notes gives an introduction to holomorphic function spaces as used in mathematical physics. The emphasis is on the Segal-Bargmann space and the canonical commutation relations. Later sections describe more advanced…
I review what we currently do and do not know about the masses of disk galaxies and their dark matter halos. The prognosis for disks is good: the asymptotic rotation velocity provides a good indicator of total disk mass. The prognosis for…
This review on dark energy is intended for a wider audience, beginners as well as experts. It contains important notes on various aspects of dark energy and its alternatives. The section on Newtonian cosmology followed by heuristic…
Although a simple argument implies that the distribution of dark matter in galactic halos is characterized by discrete flows and caustics, their presence is often ignored in discussions of galactic dynamics and of dark matter detection…
The spatial distributions of luminous and dark matter in massive early-type galaxies reflect the formation processes which shaped these systems. This article reviews the predictions of cosmological simulations for the dark and baryonic…
We discuss the correlation between the dark matter content of elliptical galaxies and their ellipticities. We then explore a mechanism for which the correlation would emerge naturally. Such mechanism leads to identifying the dark matter…
We present a family of spherical models for elliptical galaxies and bulges consisting of a stellar component and a central black hole. All models in this family share the same stellar density profile, which has a steep central cusp. The…