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Astronomy Department Faculty Publication Series

Stellar dynamics

Articles 1 - 8 of 8

Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

The Effect Of The Galactic Spheroid On Globular Cluster Evolution, Chigurupati Murali, Martin D. Weinberg Feb 2008

The Effect Of The Galactic Spheroid On Globular Cluster Evolution, Chigurupati Murali, Martin D. Weinberg

Astronomy Department Faculty Publication Series

We study the combined effects of relaxation, tidal heating and binary heating on globular cluster evolution, exploring the physical consequences of external effects and examining evolutionary trends in the MilkyWay population. Our analysis demonstrates that heating on circular and low-eccentricity orbits can dominate cluster evolution. The results also predict rapid evolution on eccentric orbits either due to strong relaxation caused by the high densities needed for tidal limitation or due to efficient bulge shocking of low density clusters. The combination of effects leads to strong evolution of the population as a whole. For example, within the solar circle, tidally-limited 105M⊙ …


The Bar-Halo Interaction - I. From Fundamental Dynamics To Revised N-Body Requirements, Md Weinberg, N Katz Jan 2007

The Bar-Halo Interaction - I. From Fundamental Dynamics To Revised N-Body Requirements, Md Weinberg, N Katz

Astronomy Department Faculty Publication Series

A galaxy remains near equilibrium for most of its history. Only through resonances can non-axisymmetric features, such as spiral arms and bars, exert torques over large scales and change the overall structure of the galaxy. In this paper, we describe the resonant interaction mechanism in detail, derive explicit criteria for the particle number required to simulate these dynamical processes accurately using N-body simulations, and illustrate them with numerical experiments. To do this, we perform a direct numerical solution of perturbation theory, in short, by solving for each orbit in an ensemble and make detailed comparisons with N-body simulations. The criteria …


Perturbations Of Spherical Stellar Systems During Flyby Encounters, E Vesperini, Md Weinberg Jan 2000

Perturbations Of Spherical Stellar Systems During Flyby Encounters, E Vesperini, Md Weinberg

Astronomy Department Faculty Publication Series

We study the internal response of a galaxy to an unbound encounter and present a survey of orbital parameters covering typical encounters in different galactic environments. Overall, we conclude that relatively weak encounters by low-mass interloping galaxies can cause observable distortions in the primaries. The resulting asymmetries may persist long after the interloper is evident. We focus our attention on the production of structure in dark halos and in cluster elliptical galaxies. Any distortion produced in a dark halo can distort the embedded stellar disk, possibly leading to the formation of lopsided and warped disks. We show that distant encounters …


Effect Of The Milky Way On Magellanic Cloud Structure, Md Weinberg Jan 2000

Effect Of The Milky Way On Magellanic Cloud Structure, Md Weinberg

Astronomy Department Faculty Publication Series

A combination of analytic models and n-body simulations implies that the structural evolution of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) is dominated by its dynamical interaction with the Milky Way. Although expected at some level, the scope of the involvement has significant observational consequences. First, LMC disk orbits are torqued out of the disk plane, thickening the disk and populating a spheroid. The torque results from direct forcing by the Milky Way tide and, indirectly, from the drag between the LMC disk and its halo resulting from the induced precession of the LMC disk. The latter is a newly reported mechanism …


An Adaptive Algorithm For N-Body Field Expansions, Md Weinberg Jan 1999

An Adaptive Algorithm For N-Body Field Expansions, Md Weinberg

Astronomy Department Faculty Publication Series

An expansion of a density field or particle distribution in basis functions that solve the Poisson equation both provides an easily parallelized N-body force algorithm and simplifies perturbation theories. The expansion converges quickly and provides the highest computational advantage if the lowest order potential-density pair in the basis looks like the unperturbed galaxy or stellar system. Unfortunately, there are only a handful of such bases in the literature that limit this advantage. This paper presents an algorithm for deriving these bases to match a wide variety of galaxy models. The method is based on efficient numerical solution of the Sturm-Liouville …


Fluctuations In Finite-N Equilibrium Stellar Systems, Md Weinberg Jan 1998

Fluctuations In Finite-N Equilibrium Stellar Systems, Md Weinberg

Astronomy Department Faculty Publication Series

Gravitational amplification of Poisson noise in stellar systems is important on large scales. For example, it increases the dipole noise power by roughly a factor of 6 and the quadrupole noise by 50 per cent for a King model profile. The dipole noise is amplified by a factor of 15 for the core-free Hernquist model. The predictions are computed by summing over the wakes caused by each star in the system — the dressed-particle formalism of Rostoker & Rosenbluth — and are demonstrated by N-body simulation. This result implies that a collisionless N-body simulation is impossible; the fluctuation noise which …


Fluctuations In Finite N Equilibrium Stellar Systems, Martin D. Weinberg Jul 1997

Fluctuations In Finite N Equilibrium Stellar Systems, Martin D. Weinberg

Astronomy Department Faculty Publication Series

Gravitational amplification of Poisson noise in stellar systems is important on large scales. For example, it increases the dipole noise power by roughly a factor of six and the quadrupole noise by 50% for a King model profile. The dipole noise is amplified by a factor of fifteen for the core-free Hernquist model. The predictions are computed using the dressed-particle formalism of Rostoker & Rosenbluth (1960) and are demonstrated by n-body simulation. This result implies that a collisionless n-body simulation is impossible; The fluctuation noise which causes relaxation is an intrinic part of self gravity. In other words, eliminating two-body …


The Effect Of The Galactic Spheroid On Globular Cluster Evolution, C Murali, Md Weinberg Jan 1997

The Effect Of The Galactic Spheroid On Globular Cluster Evolution, C Murali, Md Weinberg

Astronomy Department Faculty Publication Series

We study the combined effects of relaxation, tidal heating and binary heating on globular cluster evolution, exploring the physical consequences of external effects and examining evolutionary trends in the MilkyWay population. Our analysis demonstrates that heating on circular and low-eccentricity orbits can dominate cluster evolution. The results also predict rapid evolution on eccentric orbits either due to strong relaxation caused by the high densities needed for tidal limitation or due to efficient bulge shocking of low density clusters. The combination of effects leads to strong evolution of the population as a whole. For example, within the solar circle, tidally-limited 105M⊙ …