6 papers
The odd primordial halo of the Milky Way implied by Gaia. A shallow core, but a steep decline
Pengfei Li, Stacy S. McGaugh, Marcel S. Pawlowski +2
Primordial dark matter halos are well understood from cold dark matter-only simulations. Since they can contract significantly as baryons settle into their centers, direct comparis…
A Milky Way mass model for isolated simulations
J A Sellwood
This paper presents an equilibrium model of a Milky Way-like spiral galaxy that supports open, mostly 2- and 3-arm spiral patterns but does not form a bar. It is suggested as a mor…
After 54 years of bar instability studies: a fresh surprise
J. A. Sellwood, Victor P. Debattista, R. G. Carlberg
The well-known bar instability of rotationally-supported disk galaxy models has been studied extensively since its first discovery over half a century ago. We were therefore very s…
Star Formation and Magnetic Field Amplification due to Galactic Spirals
Hector Robinson, James Wadsley, J. A. Sellwood +1
We use global MHD galaxy simulations to investigate the effects of spiral arms on the evolution of magnetic fields and star formation within a self-regulated interstellar medium (I…
A comment on "Why is the Galactic disk so cool?", by Hamilton et al
J A Sellwood, J Binney
Frankel et al (2020) reported that the rate of diffusion in angular momentum by stars in the disk of the Milky Way was about ten times faster than the rate of heating, which places…
The quest for a stable disk
J A Sellwood, R G Carlberg
The majority of disk galaxies manifest spirals and/or bars that are believed to result from dynamical instabilities. However, some galaxies have featureless disks, which are theref…