Dynamics of barred galaxies in triaxial dark matter haloes
Rubens E. G. MachadoProf. Dr. Ronaldo E. de Souza & Dr. E. Athanassoula (advisors)
Abstract. Cosmological N-body simulations indicate that the dark matter haloes of galaxies should be generally triaxial. Yet, the presence of a baryonic disc is believed to modify the shape of the haloes. The goal of this thesis is to study how bar formation is affected by halo triaxiality and how, in turn, the presence of the bar influences the shape of the halo. We performed a series of collisionless and hydrodynamical numerical simulations, using elliptical discs as initial conditions. Triaxial halos tend to become more spherical and we show that part of the circularisation of the halo is due to disc growth, but part must be attributed to the formation of a bar. We find that the presence of gas in the disc is a more efficient factor than halo triaxiality in inhibiting the formation of a strong bar.
For more details, see my Phd thesis or the defense presentation. This project was supported by FAPESP.
See also:
- Athanassoula, E., Machado, R. E. G., & Rodionov, S. A. 2013, MNRAS Bar formation and evolution in disc galaxies with gas and a triaxial halo: morphology, bar strength and halo properties
- Machado, R. E. G. & Athanassoula, E. 2010, MNRAS Loss of halo triaxiality due to bar formation
