Bars in Cuspy Dark Halos

We examine the bar instability in models with an exponential disk and a cuspy NFW-like dark matter (DM) halo inspired by cosmological simulations. Bar evolution is studied as a function of numerical resolution in a sequence of models spanning 104 - 108 DM particles - including a multi-mass model with an effective resolution of 1010. The goal is to find convergence in dynamical behaviour. We characterize the bar growth, the buckling instability, pattern speed decay through resonant transfer of angular momentum, and possible destruction of the DM halo cusp. Overall, most characteristics converge in behaviour for halos containing more than 107 particles in detail. Notably, the formation of the bar does not destroy the density cusp in this case. These higher resolution simulations clearly illustrate the importance of discrete resonances in transporting angular momentum from the bar to the halo.