A new implementation of the Schwarzschild method for constructing observationally-driven dynamical models of galaxies of all morphological types

Abstract

We present Forstand, a new code for constructing dynamical models of galaxies with the Schwarzschild orbit-superposition method. These models are constrained by line-of-sight kinematic observations and applicable to galaxies of all morphological types, including disks and triaxial rotating bars. Our implementation has several novel and improved features, is computationally efficient, and made publicly available. Using mock datasets taken from N-body simulations, we demonstrate that the pattern speed of a bar can be recovered with an accuracy of 10-20%, regardless of orientation, if the 3D shape of the galaxy is known or inferred correctly.

accepted by ApJ; the code is available at http://agama.software

References in corpus (59)

• Parametric Recovery of Line-of-Sight Velocity Distributions from Absorption-Line Spectra of Galaxies via Penalized Likelihood
• Adaptive spatial binning of integral-field spectroscopic data using Voronoi tessellations
• The SAURON project - IV. The mass-to-light ratio, the virial mass estimator and the fundamental plane of elliptical and lenticular galaxies
• AGAMA: Action-based galaxy modelling architecture
• Measuring the inclination and mass-to-light ratio of axisymmetric galaxies via anisotropic Jeans models of stellar kinematics
• Efficient Multi-Gaussian Expansion of galaxies
• Axisymmetric Dynamical Models of the Central Regions of Galaxies
• Dynamical Modeling of Velocity Profiles: The Dark Halo Around the Elliptical Galaxy NGC2434
• Triaxial orbit based galaxy models with an application to the (apparent) decoupled core galaxy NGC 4365
• The SINFONI Black Hole Survey: The Black Hole Fundamental Plane revisited and the paths of (co-) evolution of supermassive black holes and bulges
• Imfit: A Fast, Flexible New Program for Astronomical Image Fitting
• Axisymmetric, 3-Integral Models of Galaxies: A Massive Black Hole in NGC3379
• Improved evidence for a black hole in M32 from HST/FOS spectra - II. Axisymmetric dynamical models
• Made-to-measure N-body systems
• Triaxial Galaxies with Cusps
• Dynamical modelling of luminous and dark matter in 17 Coma early-type galaxies
• Difficulties with Recovering The Masses of Supermassive Black Holes from Stellar Kinematical Data
• A Self-Consistent Dynamical Model for the COBE Detected Galactic Bar
• The Low End of the Supermassive Black Hole Mass Function: Constraining the Mass of a Nuclear Black Hole in NGC 205 via Stellar Kinematics
• Axisymmetric Three-Integral Models for Galaxies
• Mapping stationary axisymmetric phase-space distribution functions by orbit libraries
• Nearby Early-Type Galactic Nuclei at High Resolution: Dynamical Black Hole and Nuclear Star Cluster Mass Measurements
• Regular and Chaotic Dynamics of Triaxial Stellar Systems
• The Dark Matter Density Profile of the Fornax Dwarf
• Dynamical modelling of stars and gas in NGC2974: determination of mass-to-light ratio, inclination and orbital structure by Schwarzschild's method
• Peanuts, brezels and bananas: food for thought on the orbital structure of the Galactic bulge
• Orbit-based dynamical models of the Sculptor dSph galaxy
• The central kinematics of NGC 1399 measured with 14pc resolution
• Recovering the intrinsic shape of early-type galaxies
• A Dynamical Model of the Inner Galaxy
• A Stellar Dynamical Measurement of the Black Hole Mass in the Maser Galaxy NGC 4258
• On the deprojection of axisymmetric bodies
• A unified framework for the orbital structure of bars and triaxial ellipsoids
• Measuring Dark Matter Profiles Non-Parametrically in Dwarf Spheroidals: An Application to Draco
• Recovering Velocity Distributions via Penalized Likelihood
• Kinematical signatures of hidden stellar discs
• Recovery of the internal orbital structure of galaxies
• A new code for orbit analysis and Schwarzschild modelling of triaxial stellar systems
• A quartet of black holes and a missing duo: probing the low-end of the Mbh - sigma relation with the adaptive optics assisted integral-field spectroscopy
• Six new supermassive black hole mass determinations from adaptive-optics assisted SINFONI observations
• Constraining the Mass Profiles of Stellar Systems: Schwarzschild Modeling of Discrete Velocity Datasets
• Applying Schwarzschild's orbit superposition method to barred or non-barred disc galaxies
• Structural and dynamical uncertainties in modeling axisymmetric elliptical galaxies
• What the Milky Way bulge reveals about the initial metallicity gradients in the disc
• On the reliability of the black hole mass and mass to light ratio determinations with Schwarzschild models
• The Effect of Spatial Gradients in Stellar Mass-to-Light Ratio on Black Hole Mass Measurements
• Deprojection of Axially Symmetric Objects
• Constraining black hole masses from stellar kinematics by summing over all possible distribution functions
• Testing the Tremaine-Weinberg Method Applied to Integral-field Spectroscopic Data Using a Simulated Barred Galaxy
• Recovering the mass profile and orbit anisotropy of mock dwarf galaxies with Schwarzschild modelling
• Made-to-measure modeling of observed galaxy dynamics
• Three-dimensional Keplerian orbit-superposition models of the nucleus of M31
• Orbit-superposition models of discrete, incomplete stellar kinematics: application to the Galactic centre
• Chaotic mixing and the secular evolution of triaxial cuspy galaxy models built with Schwarzschild's method
• NGC 307 and the Effects of Dark-Matter Haloes on Measuring Supermassive Black Holes in Disc Galaxies
• Axisymmetric Schwarzschild models of an isothermal axisymmetric mock dwarf spheroidal galaxy
• Made-To-Measure Models of Self-Similar Triaxial Halos with Steep Inner Density Gradients
• Non-parametric Deprojection of Surface Brightness Profiles of Galaxies in Generalised Geometries
• Generalized Schwarzschild's method

Cited by in corpus (36)

• The SAMI Galaxy Survey: The internal orbital structure and mass distribution of passive galaxies from triaxial orbit-superposition Schwarzschild models
• Morphological decomposition of TNG50 galaxies: methodology and catalogue
• Disentangling the formation history of galaxies via population-orbit superposition: method validation
• The Fornax3D project: Assembly histories of lenticular galaxies from a combined dynamical and population orbital analysis
• Relations among structural parameters in barred galaxies with a direct measurement of bar pattern speed
• A novel approach to optimize the regularization and evaluation of dynamical models using a model selection framework
• The SAMI Galaxy Survey: Mass and Environment as Independent Drivers of Galaxy Dynamics
• A self-consistent dynamical model of the Milky Way disc adjusted to Gaia data
• Triaxial Orbit-based Dynamical Modeling of Galaxies with Supermassive Black Holes and an Application to Massive Elliptical Galaxy NGC 1453
• On the robustness of triaxial Schwarzschild modelling: The effects of correcting the orbit mirroring
• The Black Hole Mass of NGC 4151 from Stellar Dynamical Modeling
• The SAMI Galaxy Survey: Environmental analysis of the orbital structures of passive galaxies
• Orbit-Superposition Dynamical Modeling of Barred Galaxies
• The Fornax3D project: Environmental effects on the assembly of dynamically cold disks in Fornax cluster galaxies
• Dynamical Modeling of Galaxies and Supermassive Black Holes: Axisymmetry in Triaxial Schwarzschild Orbit Superposition Models
• Quantifying the stellar ages of dynamically separated bulges and disks of CALIFA spiral galaxies
• Accuracy and precision of triaxial orbit models I: SMBH mass, stellar mass and dark-matter halo
• Detailed shapes of the line-of-sight velocity distributions in massive early-type galaxies from non-parametric spectral models
• The bar rotation rate as a diagnostic of dark matter content in the centre of disc galaxies
• Accuracy and precision of triaxial orbit models II: Viewing angles, shape and orbital structure
• Galaxy shapes in Magneticum. I. Connecting stellar and dark matter shapes to dynamical and morphological galaxy properties and the large-scale structure
• Rediscovering the Milky Way with orbit superposition approach and APOGEE data I. Method validation
• Comparing Lensing and Stellar Orbital Models of a Nearby Massive Strong-Lens Galaxy
• The Mass of the Black Hole in NGC 5273 from Stellar Dynamical Modeling
• SpheCow: flexible dynamical models for galaxies and dark matter haloes
• The fragility of thin discs in galaxies -- I. Building tailored N-body galaxy models
• Local variations of the Stellar Velocity Ellipsoid-I: the disc of galaxies in the Auriga simulations
• Recovering the pattern speeds of edge-on barred galaxies via an orbit-superposition method
• N-body self-consistent stars-halo modeling of the Fornax dwarf galaxy
• Stellar Dynamical Modeling - Accuracy of 3D Density Estimation for Edge-on Axisymmetric Galaxies
• Counting stars from the integrated spectra of galaxies
• Schwarzschild modeling of barred galaxies
• The GECKOS survey: Jeans anisotropic models of edge-on discs uncover the impact of dust and kinematic structures
• Rediscovering the Milky Way with orbit superposition approach and APOGEE data III. Panoramic view of the bulge
• Orbit-based structural decomposition and stellar population recovery for edge-on barred galaxies
• Deprojection of external barred galaxies from photometry