No Arabic abstract
I present a flexible solution for the axisymmetric Jeans equations of stellar hydrodynamics under the assumption of an anisotropic (three-integral) velocity ellipsoid aligned with the spherical polar coordinate system. I describe and test a robust and efficient algorithm for its numerical computation. I outline the evaluation of the intrinsic velocity moments and the projection of all first and second velocity moments, including both the line-of-sight velocities and the proper motions. This spherically-aligned Jeans Anisotropic Modelling (JAM_sph) method can describe in detail the photometry and kinematics of real galaxies. It allows for a spatially-varying anisotropy, or stellar mass-to-light ratios gradients, as well as for the inclusion of general dark matter distributions and supermassive black holes. The JAM_sph method complements my previously derived cylindrically-aligned JAM_cyl and spherical Jeans solutions, which I also summarize in this paper. Comparisons between results obtained with either JAM_sph or JAM_cyl can be used to asses the robustness of inferred dynamical quantities. As an illustration, I modelled the Atlas3D sample of 260 early-type galaxies with high-quality integral-field spectroscopy, using both methods. I found that they provide statistically indistinguishable total-density logarithmic slopes. This may explain the previously-reported success of the JAM method in recovering density profiles of real or simulated galaxies. A reference software implementation of JAM_sph is included in the publicly-available JAM software package.
We present the theoretical framework to efficiently solve the Jeans equations for multi-component axisymmetric stellar systems, focusing on the scaling of all quantities entering them. The models may include an arbitrary number of stellar distributions, a dark matter halo, and a central supermassive black hole; each stellar distribution is implicitly described by a two- or three-integral distribution function, and the stellar components can have different structural (density profile, flattening, mass, scale-length), dynamical (rotation, velocity dispersion anisotropy), and population (age, metallicity, initial mass function, mass-to-light ratio) properties. In order to determine the ordered rotational velocity and the azimuthal velocity dispersion fields of each component, we introduce a decomposition that can be used when the commonly adopted Satoh decomposition cannot be applied. The scheme developed is particularly suitable for a numerical implementation; we describe its realisation within our code JASMINE2, optimised to maximally exploit the scalings allowed by the Poisson and the Jeans equations, also in the post-processing procedures. As applications, we illustrate the building of three multi-component galaxy models with two distinct stellar populations, a central black hole, and a dark matter halo; we also study the solution of the Jeans equations for an exponential thick disc, and for its multi-component representation as the superposition of three Miyamoto-Nagai discs. A useful general formula for the numerical evaluation of the gravitational potential of factorised thick discs is finally given.
We present a simple and efficient anisotropic generalization of the semi-isotropic (two-integral) axisymmetric Jeans formalism which is used to model the stellar kinematics of galaxies. The following is assumed: (i) a constant mass-to-light ratio M/L and (ii) a velocity ellipsoid that is aligned with cylindrical coordinates (R,z) and characterized by the classic anisotropy parameter beta_z=1-sigma_z^2/sigma_R^2. Our simple models are fit to SAURON integral-field observations of the stellar kinematics for a set of fast-rotator early-type galaxies. With only two free parameters (beta_z and the inclination) the models generally provide remarkably good descriptions of the shape of the first (V) and second (V_rms=sqrt{V^2+sigma^2}) velocity moments, once a detailed description of the surface brightness is given. This is consistent with previous findings on the simple dynamical structure of these objects. With the observationally-motivated assumption that beta_z>0, the method is able to recover the inclination. The technique can be used to determine the dynamical mass-to-light ratios and angular momenta of early-type fast-rotators and spiral galaxies, especially when the quality of the data does not justify more sophisticated modeling approaches. This formalism allows for the inclusion of dark matter, supermassive black holes, spatially varying anisotropy, and multiple kinematic components.
We present the analytical solution of the two-integrals Jeans equations for Miyamoto-Nagai discs embedded in Binney logarithmic dark matter haloes. The equations can be solved (both with standard methods and with the Residue Theorem) for arbitrary choices of the parameters, thus providing a very flexible two-component galaxy model, ranging from flattened discs to spherical systems. A particularly interesting case is obtained when the dark matter halo reduces to the Singular Isothermal Sphere. Azimuthal motions are separated in the ordered and velocity dispersion components by using the Satoh decomposition. The obtained formulae can be used in numerical simulations of galactic gas flows, for testing codes of stellar dynamics, and to study the dependence of the stellar velocity dispersion and of the asymmetric drift in the equatorial plane as a function of disc and halo flattenings. Here, we estimate the inflow radial velocities of the interstellar medium, expected by the mixing of the stellar mass losses of the lagging stars in the disc with a pre-existing gas in circular orbit.
Cappellari (2008) presented a flexible and efficient method to model the stellar kinematics of anisotropic axisymmetric and spherical stellar systems. The spherical formalism could be used to model the line-of-sight velocity second moments allowing for essentially arbitrary radial variation in the anisotropy and general luminous and total density profiles. Here we generalize the spherical formalism by providing the expressions for all three components of the projected second moments, including the two proper motion components. A reference implementation is now included in the public JAM package available at http://purl.org/cappellari/software
The nuclear stellar disc (NSD) is a flattened stellar structure that dominates the gravitational potential of the Milky Way at Galactocentric radii $30 lesssim R lesssim 300{, rm pc}$. In this paper, we construct axisymmetric Jeans dynamical models of the NSD based on previous photometric studies and we fit them to line-of-sight kinematic data of APOGEE and SiO maser stars. We find that (i) the NSD mass is lower but consistent with the mass independently determined from photometry by Launhardt et al. (2002). Our fiducial model has a mass contained within spherical radius $r=100{, rm pc}$ of $M(r<100{, rm pc}) = 3.9 pm 1 times 10^8 {, rm M_odot}$ and a total mass of $M_{rm NSD} = 6.9 pm 2 times 10^8 {, rm M_odot}$. (ii) The NSD might be the first example of a vertically biased disc, i.e. with ratio between the vertical and radial velocity dispersion $sigma_z/sigma_R>1$. Observations and theoretical models of the star-forming molecular gas in the central molecular zone suggest that large vertical oscillations may be already imprinted at stellar birth. However, the finding $sigma_z/sigma_R > 1$ depends on a drop in the velocity dispersion in the innermost few tens of parsecs, on our assumption that the NSD is axisymmetric, and that the available (extinction corrected) stellar samples broadly trace the underlying light and mass distributions, all of which need to be established by future observations and/or modelling. (iii) We provide the most accurate rotation curve to date for the innermost $500 {, rm pc}$ of our Galaxy.