Warp evidences in precessing galactic bar models

Abstract

Most galaxies have a warped shape when they are seen from an edge-on point of view. The reason for this curious form is not completely known so far and in this work we apply dynamical system tools to contribute to its explanation. Starting from a simple, but realistic, model formed by a bar and a disc, we study the effect produced by a small misalignment between the angular momentum of the system and its angular velocity. To this end, a precession model is developed and considered, assuming that the bar behaves like a rigid body. After checking that the periodic orbits inside the bar keep being the skeleton of the inner system, even after inflicting a precession to the potential, we compute the invariant manifolds of the unstable periodic orbits departing from the equilibrium points at the ends of the bar to get evidences of their warped shapes. As it is well known, the invariant manifolds associated with these periodic orbits drive the arms and rings of barred galaxies and constitute the skeleton of these building blocks. Looking at them from a side-on viewpoint, we find that these manifolds present warped shapes as those recognized in observations. Lastly, test particle simulations have been performed to determine how the stars are affected by the applied precession, confirming this way the theoretical results obtained.

14 pages, 21 figures, Accepted for publication in A&A (15th Jan 2016)

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• From Manifolds to Lagrangian Coherent Structures in galactic bar models
• Warps induced by satellites on barred and non-barred galaxies
• Formation of asymmetric arms in barred galaxies
• Capturing the short-term characteristics of a barred galaxy from a single snapshot
• Effect of dark matter halos on the orbital and escape dynamics of barred galaxies