Publication Date:
2011-08-17
Description:
A series of two-dimensional numerical experiments is performed in order to test the response of an isothermal, self-gravitating gas disk to a uniformly rotating, barlike gravitational potential. The barlike potential is an equilibrium stellar model from the n-body calculations of Miller and Smith (1979). In the bar-dominated, central regions of the disk, a gas bar whose phase depends primarily on the location of principal resonances in the disk is formed. This response can be understood in terms of orbit-crowding effects. In the gas-dominated outer regions of the disk, two-armed trailing spiral waves are formed. The local pitch angle of these waves increases with increasing fractional gas mass. These self-gravitating gas waves are not self-sustaining. They are driven from the ends of equilibrium stellar bars, and their phase does not depend on the location of resonances in the disk. The relevance of these self-gravitating waves to observations and models of barred spiral galaxies is discussed. It is concluded that these waves and their associated ringlike structures may be consistent with the morphological distribution of gas features in barred spiral galaxies.
Keywords:
ASTROPHYSICS
Type:
Astrophysical Journal; vol. 238
Format:
text
