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Stellar bars in spinning haloes: delayed buckling and absence of slowdown

  • Xingchen Li
  • , Isaac Shlosman
  • , Clayton Heller
  • , Daniel Pfenniger

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

18 Scopus citations

Abstract

We use numerical simulations to analyse the stellar bar evolution in spinning dark matter (DM) haloes. Previous works have shown the halo spin has a substantial effect on bar evolution and can lead to bar dissolution following the vertical buckling instability. We invoke the DM spin sequence, λ = 0-0.09, and study the effect of DM density along this λ sequence by varying compactness of DM halo. We find that (1) varying DM density has a profound effect on bar evolution along λ sequence. (2) For λ 0.045, the buckling has been delayed progressively. (3) Stellar bars remain near maximal strength, and their amplitude plateau stage extends over 0.7-5 Gyr, terminating with the buckling. (4) Although stellar bars remain strong during the plateau, their pattern speed and size stay nearly constant. This unusual behaviour of stellar bars follows from highly reduced gravitational torques due to DM bar being aligned with the stellar bar. The orbital analysis shows that delayed buckling results from slow evolution of stellar oscillations along bar major and vertical axes, thus postponing the action of the vertical 2:1 resonance which pumps the rotational energy into vertical motions. (5) Peanut/boxy-shaped bulges form at the beginning of the plateau and grow with time. (6) Finally, strong bars in spinning haloes can avoid fast braking, resolving the long-standing discrepancy between observations and N-body simulations. This behaviour of stellar bars along the λ and DM density sequences reveals a wealth of stellar bar properties which require additional study.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1972-1986
Number of pages15
JournalMonthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Volume526
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 1 2023

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Author(s) Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Royal Astronomical Society.

Funding

We thank Phil Hopkins for providing us with the latest version of gizmo and Angela Collier for sharing some of the analysis software. IS is grateful for a generous support from the International Joint Research Promotion Program at Osaka University. This work has also been supported in part by the Hubble Theory grant HST-AR-18584, by JSPS KAKENHI grant 16H02163 (to IS) and by the NSF under grant PHY-1748958 to Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics (KITP). The STScI is operated by the AURA, Inc., under NASA contract NAS5-26555. Simulations have been performed using the University of Kentucky Lipscomb Computing Cluster. We are grateful for help by Vikram Gazula at the Center for Computational Studies at the University of Kentucky for help with the technical issues with the LCC runs.

FundersFunder number
Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara
National Science Foundation Arctic Social Science Program1748958, PHY-1748958
Japan Society for the Promotion of Science16H02163
Osaka UniversityHST-AR-18584

    Keywords

    • galaxies: bar
    • galaxies: evolution
    • galaxies: formation
    • galaxies: kinematics and dynamics
    • galaxies: structure
    • methods: numerical

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • Astronomy and Astrophysics
    • Space and Planetary Science

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