Journal
ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL LETTERS
Volume 769, Issue 2, Pages -Publisher
IOP PUBLISHING LTD
DOI: 10.1088/2041-8205/769/2/L24
Keywords
galaxies: kinematics and dynamics; methods: numerical
Categories
Funding
- NSF [AST-1108977]
- Division Of Astronomical Sciences
- Direct For Mathematical & Physical Scien [1211793, 1108977] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
Ask authors/readers for more resources
I use N-body simulations with two mass species of particles to demonstrate that disk galaxy simulations are subject to collisional relaxation at a higher rate than is widely assumed. Relaxation affects the vertical thickness of the disk most strongly, and drives the velocity ellipsoid to a moderately flattened shape similar to that observed for disk stars in the solar neighborhood. The velocity ellipsoid in simulations with small numbers of particles quickly approaches this shape, but shot noise also dominates the in-plane behavior. Simulations with higher, but reachable, numbers of particles relax slowly enough to be considered collisionless, allowing the in-plane dispersions to rise due to spiral activity without heating the vertical motions. Relaxation may have affected many previously published simulations of the formation and evolution of galaxy disks.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available