Dissipationless Collapse of Spherical Protogalaxies and the Fundamental Plane

Abstract

Following on from the numerical work of Capelato, de Carvalho & Carlberg (1995, 1997), where dissipationless merger simulations were shown to reproduce the "Fundamental Plane" (FP) of elliptical galaxies, we investigate whether the end products of pure, spherically symmetric, one-component dissipationless {\it collapses} could also reproduce the FP. Past numerical work on collisionless collapses have addressed important issues on the dynamical/structural characteristics of collapsed equilibrium systems. However, the study of collisionless collapse in the context of the nature of the FP has not been satisfactorily addressed yet. Our aim in this paper is to focus our attention on the resulting collapse of simple one-component spherical models with a range of different initial virial coefficients. We find that the characteristic correlations of the models are compatible with virialized, centrally homologous systems. Our results strengthen the idea that merging may be a fundamental ingredient in forming non-homologous objects.

arXiv comment9 pages, 4 Postscript figures, Astronomy & Astrophysics in press (2002). Abstract placement corrected

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Cited by in corpus (7)

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• "Fundamental-Plane"-Like Relations From Collisionless Stellar Dynamics: A Comparison of Mergers and Collapses
• Relaxation of a Collisionless System and the Transition to a New Equilibrium Velocity Distribution
• Clues on Regularity in the Structure and Kinematics of Elliptical Galaxies from Self-consistent Hydrodynamical Simulations: the Dynamical Fundamental Plane
• Merging of Low-Mass Systems and the Origin of the Fundamental Plane
• Gravitational Mesoscopic Constraints in Cosmological Dark Matter Halos