Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
May 1997
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1997aas...190.1307v&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, 190th AAS Meeting, #13.07; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 29, p.795
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Scientific paper
The motion of stars in triaxial stellar systems with central density cusps, rho ~ r(-gamma ) , or central singularities ("black holes"), is generically chaotic. We use Laskar's frequency mapping technique to calculate the timescales for chaotic mixing in triaxial potentials with a range of cusp slopes and black hole masses. Preliminary results suggest that cusps steeper than gamma ~ 1 lead to chaotic mixing timescales that are comparable to or less than galaxy lifetimes for the majority of boxlike orbits within the half-mass radius. Galaxies with steep cusps should therefore avoid triaxial shapes, since the parts of phase space associated with boxlike orbits would be populated nearly uniformly in such galaxies. This result is consistent with the observed lack of significant triaxiality in low-luminosity ellipticals, which always have steep cusps. We also show how to use the additional information on the structure of the phase space obtained from the frequency mapping technique to build self-consistent models of elliptical galaxies.
Merritt David
Valluri Monica
No associations
LandOfFree
The Onset of Chaos in Triaxial Stellar Systems 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 The Onset of Chaos in Triaxial Stellar Systems, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and The Onset of Chaos in Triaxial Stellar Systems will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-830484