No Arabic abstract
A phase-space distribution function of the steady state in galaxy models that admits regular orbits overall in the phase-space can be represented by a function of three action variables. This type of distribution function in Galactic models is often constructed theoretically for comparison of the Galactic models with observational data as a test of the models. On the other hand, observations give Cartesian phase-space coordinates of stars. Therefore it is necessary to relate action variables and Cartesian coordinates in investigating whether the distribution function constructed in galaxy models can explain observational data. Generating functions are very useful in practice for this purpose, because calculations of relations between action variables and Cartesian coordinates by generating functions do not require a lot of computational time or computer memory in comparison with direct numerical integration calculations of stellar orbits. Here, we propose a new method called a torus-fitting method, by which a generating function is derived numerically for models of the Galactic potential in which almost all orbits are regular. We confirmed the torus-fitting method can be applied to major orbit families (box and loop orbits) in some two-dimensional potentials. Furthermore, the torus-fitting method is still applicable to resonant orbit families, besides major orbit families. Hence the torus-fitting method is useful for analyzing real Galactic systems in which a lot of resonant orbit families might exist.
We present a new observational method to evaluate the star formation law as formulated by Schmidt: the power-law expression assumed to relate the rate of star formation in a volume of space to the local total gas volume density. Volume densities in the clouds surrounding an OB association are determined with a simple model which considers atomic hydrogen as a photodissociation product on cloud surfaces. The photodissociating flux incident on the cloud is computed from the far-UV luminosity of the OB association and the geometry. We have applied this PDR Method to a sample of star-forming regions in M33 using VLA 21-cm data for the HI and GALEX imagery in the far-UV. It provides an estimate of the total volume density of hydrogen (atomic + molecular) in the gas clouds surrounding the young star cluster. A logarithmic graph of the cluster UV luminosity versus the surrounding gas density is a direct measure of the star formation law. However, this plot is severely affected by observational selection, rendering large areas of the diagram inaccessible to the data. An ordinary least-squares regression fit therefore gives a strongly biased result. Its slope primarily reflects the boundary defined when the 21-cm line becomes optically thick, no longer reliably measuring the HI column density. We use a maximum-likelihood statistical approach which can deal with truncated and skewed data, taking into account the large uncertainties in the derived total gas densities. The exponent we obtain for the Schmidt law in M33 is 1.4 pm 0.2.
We identify an effective proxy for the analytically-unknown second integral of motion (I_2) for rotating barred or tri-axial potentials. Planar orbits of a given energy follow a tight sequence in the space of the time-averaged angular momentum and its amplitude of fluctuation. The sequence monotonically traces the main orbital families in the Poincare map, even in the presence of resonant and chaotic orbits. This behavior allows us to define the Calibrated Angular Momentum, the average angular momentum normalized by the amplitude of its fluctuation, as a numerical proxy for I_2. It also implies that the amplitude of fluctuation in L_z, previously under-appreciated, contains valuable information. This new proxy allows one to classify orbital families easily and accurately, even for real orbits in N-body simulations of barred galaxies. It is a good diagnostic tool of dynamical systems, and may facilitate the construction of equilibrium models.
The conventional approach to orbit trapping at Lindblad resonances via a pendulum equation fails when the parent of the trapped orbits is too circular. The problem is explained and resolved in the context of the Torus Mapper and a realistic Galaxy model. Tori are computed for orbits trapped at both the inner and outer Lindblad resonances of our Galaxy. At the outer Lindblad resonance, orbits are quasiperiodic and can be accurately fitted by torus mapping. At the inner Lindblad resonance, orbits are significantly chaotic although far from ergodic, and each orbit explores a small range of tori obtained by torus mapping.
Let $mathcal{L}$ be the derivation Lie algebra of ${mathbb C}[t_1^{pm 1},t_2^{pm 1}]$. Given a triangle decomposition $mathcal{L} =mathcal{L}^{+}oplusmathfrak{h}oplusmathcal{L}^{-}$, we define a nonsingular Lie algebra homomorphism $psi:mathcal{L}^{+}rightarrowmathbb{C}$ and the universal Whittaker $mathcal{L}$-module $W_{psi}$ of type $psi$. We obtain all Whittaker vectors and submodules of $W_{psi}$, and all simple Whittaker $mathcal{L}$-modules of type $psi$.
Flattened axisymmetric galactic potentials are known to host minor orbit families surrounding orbits with commensurable frequencies. The behavior of orbits that belong to these orbit families is fundamentally different than that of typical orbits with non-commensurable frequencies. We investigate the evolution of stellar streams on orbits near the boundaries between orbit families (separatrices) in a flattened axisymmetric potential. We demonstrate that the separatrix divides these streams into two groups of stars that belong to two different orbit families, and that as a result, these streams diffuse more rapidly than streams that evolve elsewhere in the potential. We utilize Hamiltonian perturbation theory to estimate both the timescale of this effect and the likelihood of a stream evolving close enough to a separatrix to be affected by it. We analyze two prior reports of stream-fanning in simulations with triaxial potentials, and conclude that at least one of them is caused by separatrix divergence. These results lay the foundation for a method of mapping the orbit families of galactic potentials using the morphology of stellar streams. Comparing these predictions with the currently known distribution of streams in the Milky Way presents a new way of constraining the shape of our Galaxys potential and distribution of dark matter.