Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
Mar 1971
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1971ap%26ss..10..363r&link_type=abstract
Astrophysics and Space Science, Volume 10, Issue 3, pp.363-382
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
16
Scientific paper
Brown's results (1964, 1968) concerning the distribution of orientation angles of spiral galaxies in different areas of the sky are discussed and a graphical statistical test is applied. The deviations from randomness are found to be significant. It seems difficult to ascribe them to selection effects. It is shown that the observed distributions can be explained, if the angular momenta in greater aggregations of galaxies are distributed at random on congruent precession cones with parallel axes. This hypothesis may apply if the following cosmological conditions hold:
(i)
the matter in the universe was reheated after the recombination at an epoch, when most of the angular momentum was already transferred to the protogalaxies by tidal interaction, and the angular momenta of the protogalaxies in greater aggregations were predominantly parallel at the epoch of reheating;
(ii)
the ‘magnetic’ model of the universe is valid and the ‘urfield’ was uniform at least at the epoch of reheating. Under these assumptions, the ‘frozen-in’ magnetic field will give rise to forces, which — apart from slowing down the rotation of the protogalaxies — will cause precession of their angular momenta around the direction of the ‘urfield’. For a rigid body approximation the equations of motion are derived and solved numerically. Approximate analytic solutions are also given. The precession period is in the range of 104 to 108 yr for plausible values of the parameters of the problem. The observed distributions in the four regions of the sky investigated are — via the precession hypothesis — compatible with a direction of the ‘urfield’ indicated by the work of Sofueet al. (1969) and Reinhardt and Thiel (1970) ofl II≈280°,b II≈+30° tol II≈100°,b II≈-30°.
No associations
LandOfFree
Orientation of Galaxies and a Magnetic `Urfield' 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 Orientation of Galaxies and a Magnetic `Urfield', we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Orientation of Galaxies and a Magnetic `Urfield' will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1760220