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Numerical experiments in spiral structure

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 August 2015

R. H. Miller
Affiliation:
University of Chicago, Chicago, Ill., U.S.A.
K. H. Prendergast
Affiliation:
Columbia University, New York, N.Y., U.S.A.
W. J. Quirk
Affiliation:
Columbia University, New York, N.Y., U.S.A.

Abstract

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Results of an n-body calculation, containing about 120000 particles, were shown as a motion picture. Some of the particles are treated as ‘gas’, obeying a special dissipative dynamics, the rest as ‘stars’. The system was started as pure ‘gas’, and ‘stars’ were made out of the ‘gas’ in a manner closely mimicking real galaxies. Spiral density wave patterns appear in the ‘gas’, and last for about 3 ‘galactic rotations’ without substantial change of form. Various experiments are described that have been undertaken in an attempt to learn the roles of various parts of the system in the maintenance of spiral patterns.

Type
Part III/Theory of Spiral Structure
Copyright
Copyright © Reidel 1970 

References

Miller, R. H. and Prendergast, K. H.: 1968, Astrophys. J. 151, 699.Google Scholar