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Session 43 - The Diffuse ISM: Milky Way and Beyond.
Display session, Tuesday, June 11
Great Hall,
A spiral arm is modeled as a superposition of prolate spheroids. An explicit expression is given for the resultant gravitational potential of the arm. Functional forms are also proposed for the vertical gravitational acceleration produced by the stars in the galactic disk, and the density laws for the gas components of the thick galactic disk in the vertical direction. Starting from hydrostatic equilibrium, the gas response to the spiral density wave is studied via numerical simulations of the local gas flow. The galactic magnetic field is included in different geometries. Interesting flow patterns high above from the galactic midplane are found. The transition nearly resembles the hydraulic jump, or bore, from the incompressible flow theory.
