Recovery of the internal orbital structure of galaxies

Details Recovery of the internal orbital structure of galaxies Recovery of the internal orbital structure of galaxies

2007-12-03

arxiv.org/abs/0712.0309v2

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

34 pages, 21 figures; companion paper at arXiv:0712.0113; accepted for publication in MNRAS; PDF file with full resolution fig

Scientific paper

10.1111/j.1365-2966.2008.12873.x

We construct axisymmetric and triaxial galaxy models with a phase-space distribution function that depends on linear combinations of the three exact integrals of motion for a separable potential. These Abel models, first introduced by Dejonghe & Laurent and subsequently extended by Mathieu & Dejonghe, are the axisymmetric and triaxial generalisations of the well-known spherical Osipkov-Merritt models. We show that the density and higher order velocity moments, as well as the line-of-sight velocity distribution (LOSVD) of these models can be calculated efficiently and that they capture much of the rich internal dynamics of early-type galaxies. We build a triaxial and oblate axisymmetric galaxy model with projected kinematics that mimic the two-dimensional kinematic observations that are obtained with integral-field spectrographs such as SAURON. We fit the simulated observations with axisymmetric and triaxial dynamical models constructed with our numerical implementation of Schwarzschild's orbit-superposition method. We find that Schwarzschild's method is able to recover the internal dynamics and three-integral distribution function of realistic models of early-type galaxies.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

Recovery of the internal orbital structure of galaxies does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Recovery of the internal orbital structure of galaxies, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Recovery of the internal orbital structure of galaxies will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-51176