Spiral- and bar-driven peculiar velocities in Milky Way-sized galaxy simulations

We investigate the kinematic signatures induced by spiral and bar structure in a set of simulations of Milky Way-sized spiral disc galaxies. The set includes test particle simulations that follow a quasi-stationary density wave-like scenario with rigidly rotating spiral arms, and Nbody simulations t...

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Main Authors: Grand, Robert J. J. (Author) , Bovy, Jo (Author) , Kawata, Daisuke (Author) , Hunt, Jason A. S. (Author) , Famaey, Benoit (Author) , Siebert, Arnaud (Author) , Monari, Giacomo (Author) , Cropper, Mark (Author)
Format: Article (Journal)
Language:English
Published: 26 August 2015
In: Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Year: 2015, Volume: 453, Issue: 2, Pages: 1867-1878
ISSN:1365-2966
DOI:10.1093/mnras/stv1785
Online Access:Verlag, lizenzpflichtig, Volltext: https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stv1785
Verlag, lizenzpflichtig, Volltext: https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/453/2/1867/1152140
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Author Notes:Robert J. J. Grand, Jo Bovy, Daisuke Kawata, Jason A. S. Hunt, Benoit Famaey, Arnaud Siebert, Giacomo Monari and Mark Cropper
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Summary:We investigate the kinematic signatures induced by spiral and bar structure in a set of simulations of Milky Way-sized spiral disc galaxies. The set includes test particle simulations that follow a quasi-stationary density wave-like scenario with rigidly rotating spiral arms, and Nbody simulations that host a bar and transient, corotating spiral arms. From a location similar to that of the Sun, we calculate the radial, tangential and line-of-sight peculiar velocity fields of a patch of the disc and quantify the fluctuations by computing the power spectrum from a two-dimensional Fourier transform. We find that the peculiar velocity power spectrum of the simulation with a bar and transient, corotating spiral arms fits very well to that of APOGEE red clump star data, while the quasi-stationary density wave spiral model without a bar does not. We determine that the power spectrum is sensitive to the number of spiral arms, spiral arm pitch angle and position with respect to the spiral arm. However, it is necessary to go beyond the line-of-sight velocity field in order to distinguish fully between the various spiral models with this method. We compute the power spectrum for different regions of the spiral discs, and discuss the application of this analysis technique to external galaxies.
Item Description:Gesehen am 21.09.2020
Physical Description:Online Resource
ISSN:1365-2966
DOI:10.1093/mnras/stv1785