[Previous] | [Session 7] | [Next]
E.I. Barnes, J.E. Tohline (Louisiana State University)
A significant amount of effort has been invested over the past several decades in constructing self-consistent potential-density pairs for triaxial stellar dynamic systems, such as galactic bars. Most of this work has been done completely independent of gas dynamical considerations. However, it seems reasonable to assume that the distribution function of stars in galaxies retains some memory of the gas dynamical system from which the stars formed. Taking a two dimensional slice of a purely gaseous, steady state triaxial configuration that has been recently constructed by Cazes and Tohline (1999), we first examine the varieties of orbits that are supported by this two dimensional, bar potential. Then, imposing a "restriction hypothesis," we investigate the phase space structure that results from placing test particles in the bar potential with the gas velocities appropriate to the initial positions of those particles.
The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: barnes@physics.lsu.edu