Contour Map for the Gravitational Potential of the Milky Way

Details Contour Map for the Gravitational Potential of the Milky Way Contour Map for the Gravitational Potential of the Milky Way

Dec 2006

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006aas...20917210b&link_type=abstract

2007 AAS/AAPT Joint Meeting, American Astronomical Society Meeting 209, #172.10; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society,

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One usually does not draw a 2D contour plot for the gravitational potential of an astronomical system. It is too boring. For the solar system, the plot of equipotentials is simply a nest of circles about the sun as the center. Replace the sun with a black hole, squash the inner contours towards the x-y plane, and voila, the Milky Way. The situation is entirely different with the non-Newtonian sinusoidal potential. Here φ = -GM cos(2πr/λ)/r, λ =Ro/20, and Ro is the distance from the sun to the center of the Galaxy.[1] Now the contour plot for the Milky Way has an infinite number of minima and maxima.
In this poster I show the contours for a disk galaxy having about 20 equal-spaced rings of mass mi = ai exp[-a&i/ 5λ ], ai = (i+1/4) λ, i=0,1,..19. The λ /4 offset is essential if this toy galaxy is to model the Milky Way that has, I predict, a physical bar in its center. (Other choices for the offset can model M31 or M33). Close to the center this model generates a dynamical disk of λ /4 = 100 pc half-thickness that is separate from the bulge. Evidence of this separation is clearly seen in CO (Fukui et al 2006). Near the solar circle, there are strong radial tidal forces. These forces appear in the data on long-period comets (Matese & Whitmire 1996) and on the position and kinematics of stars in the Gould Belt (Elias et al 2006). Finally the model accommodates the 3 evenly spaced stellar arcs at the periphery of the Milky Way (Grillmair 2006).
I thank Peter Bender for suggesting this plot and John Cumulat for continual support. [1] D. F. Bartlett, "Analogies between Electricity and Gravity", Metrologia 41, 2004, S115-S124.

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