The formation of spiral arms and rings in barred galaxies

TL;DR

This paper presents a unified dynamical theory explaining the formation of spirals and rings in barred galaxies through orbital motions around unstable equilibrium points, considering various galaxy models and rotation curve shapes.

Contribution

It introduces a common framework based on invariant manifolds and unstable equilibrium points to explain diverse galactic structures, extending previous work.

Findings

Spirals and rings are linked to invariant manifolds of periodic orbits.

Differences in structures depend on galaxy dynamical parameters.

Rotation curve shape influences the formation of morphological features.

Abstract

In this and in a previous paper (Romero-Gomez et al. 2006) we propose a theory to explain the formation of both spirals and rings in barred galaxies using a common dynamical framework. It is based on the orbital motion driven by the unstable equilibrium points of the rotating bar potential. Thus, spirals, rings and pseudo-rings are related to the invariant manifolds associated to the periodic orbits around these equilibrium points. We examine the parameter space of three barred galaxy models and discuss the formation of the different morphological structures according to the properties of the bar model. We also study the influence of the shape of the rotation curve in the outer parts, by making families of models with rising, flat, or falling rotation curves in the outer parts. The differences between spiral and ringed structures arise from differences in the dynamical parameters of the host galaxies. The results presented here will be discussed and compared with observations in a forthcoming paper.