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Cold Dark Matter Substructure and the Dynamical Evolution of Galaxy Disks

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 December 2003

C. Boily ,
P. Patsis ,
S. Portegies ,
R. Spurzem ,
C. Theis ,
A. S. Font ,
J. F. Navarro ,
J. Stadel  and
T. R. Quinn
A. S. Font
Affiliation:
University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, V8P 1A1, Canada
J. F. Navarro
Affiliation:
University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, V8P 1A1, Canada Fellow of CIAR and of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
J. Stadel
Affiliation:
University of Zurich, Switzerland
T. R. Quinn
Affiliation:
Department of Astronomy, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
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Abstract

We use numerical simulations to study the dynamical effect of substructure inCold Dark Matter (CDM) halos on stellar galactic disks. Substructure halos withmasses, densities and orbits derived from high-resolution cosmological CDMsimulations play only a minor dynamical role in the heating of the disk overseveral Gyrs. This is because the orbits of dark satellites in CDM halos seldomtake them near the disk, where their tidal effects are greatest. The mostnoticeable effects of substructure in our simulation may be traced to the mostmassive sub-halo and include: (i) the forcing of short-lived stellar warps in thedisk as a result of tidal shocks that arise during each pericentric passage, and(ii) the tilting of the disk caused by the orbital decay of the satellite. These results imply that substructure might not preclude virialized CDM halos from being acceptable hosts of thin stellar disks like that of the Milky Way, and that the ubiquity of minor stellar warps may be associated with the recurrent tidal influence on the disk of the most massive substructure halos.

Type
Research Article
Information
European Astronomical Society Publications Series , Volume 10: JENAM 2002, Galactic & Stellar Dynamics , 2003 , pp. 89
Copyright
© EAS, EDP Sciences, 2003

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