Mathematics – Logic
Scientific paper
Nov 2005
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2005phdt.........9f&link_type=abstract
PhD dissertation. Proquest Dissertations And Theses 2005. Section 0244, Part 0606 215 pages; [Ph.D. dissertation].Canada: Univ
Mathematics
Logic
Disk Galaxies, Cold Dark Matter, Halos
Scientific paper
We use high resolution N-body simulations to investigate the dynamical effects that substructure in Cold Dark Matter (CDM) halos have on galactic disks, with particular emphasis on their secular evolution, heating, tilting and warping. The simulations analyzed here are some of the largest and most realistic simulations of disk heating/warping available in the appropriate cosmological context. Our detailed treatment of the dark matter distinguishes them from previous numerical simulations that have focused on the interaction with a single satellite.
Our study shows that substructure halos with masses, densities and orbits expected in the CDM paradigm typically play only a minor dynamical role in the heating of the disk over several Gyrs, and thus do not typically pose a danger to the stability of thin disks. This is largely because the most massive dark satellites, which dominate the secular heating, seldom approach the disk, where tidal effects are strongest. Occasionally, however, massive subhalos couple effectively with the disk, resulting in noticeable tidal effects on the structure of the stellar disk, including: (i) tilting and (ii) the forcing of short-lived, asymmetric warps as a result of tidal impulses that arise during each pericentric passage. I show that this is a viable mechanism for creating asymmetric disk warps such as those observed in the local Universe. Moreover, the fact that a satellite can have recurrent interactions with the disk suggests a natural explanation for the observed frequency of the warps, which would otherwise be very short lived.
I conclude that dark matter halo substructure does not preclude virialized CDM halos from being acceptable hosts of thin stellar disks like that of the Milky Way and that the ubiquity of minor stellar warps may be associated with the recurrent tidal influence on the disk of the most massive substructure halos.
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