Quasi-Resonant Theory of Tidal Interactions

Details Quasi-Resonant Theory of Tidal Interactions Quasi-Resonant Theory of Tidal Interactions

2010-09-20

arxiv.org/abs/1009.3927v1

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics

22 pages, 13 figures, ApJ submitted, numerical routines for evaluation of special functions and analytical results are provide

Scientific paper

When a spinning system experiences a transient gravitational encounter with an external perturber, a quasi-resonance occurs if the spin frequency of the victim matches the peak orbital frequency of the perturber. Such encounters are responsible for the formation of long tails and bridges of stars during galaxy collisions. For high-speed encounters, the resulting velocity perturbations can be described within the impulse approximation. The traditional impulse approximation, however, does not distinguish between prograde and retrograde encounters, and therefore completely misses the resonant response. Here, using perturbation theory, we compute the effects of quasi-resonant phenomena on stars orbiting within a disk. Explicit expressions are derived for the velocity and energy change to the stars induced by tidal forces from an external gravitational perturber passing either on a straight line or parabolic orbit. Comparisons with numerical restricted three-body calculations illustrate the applicability of our analysis.

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