NGC 1300 Dynamics: III. Orbital analysis

TL;DR

This study analyzes the orbital dynamics of NGC 1300, revealing new mechanisms supporting galaxy structures and identifying the best model that combines thick disc and 2D disc components with shared pattern speed.

Contribution

It introduces three novel dynamical mechanisms supporting galaxy features, supported by extensive orbital analysis of multiple models of NGC 1300.

Findings

Chaotic orbits support strong bar structures.

Spiral arms are supported by chaotic and sticky orbits following specific patterns.

The thick disc plus 2D disc model best reproduces NGC 1300 morphology.

Abstract

We present the orbital analysis of four response models, that succeed in reproducing morphological features of NGC 1300. Two of them assume a planar (2D) geometry with $\Omega_p$=22 and 16 \ksk respectively. The two others assume a cylindrical (thick) disc and rotate with the same pattern speeds as the 2D models. These response models reproduce most successfully main morphological features of NGC 1300 among a large number of models, as became evident in a previous study. Our main result is the discovery of three new dynamical mechanisms that can support structures in a barred-spiral grand design system. These mechanisms are presented in characteristic cases, where these dynamical phenomena take place. They refer firstly to the support of a strong bar, of ansae type, almost solely by chaotic orbits, then to the support of spirals by chaotic orbits that for a certain number of pat tern revolutions follow an n:1 (n=7,8) morphology, and finally to the support of spiral arms by a combination of orbits trapped around L$_{4,5}$ and sticky chaotic orbits with the same Jacobi constant. We have encountered these dynamical phenomena in a large fraction of the cases we studied as we varied the parameters of our general models, without forcing in some way their appearance. This suggests that they could be responsible for the observed morphologies of many barred-spiral galaxies. Comparing our response models among themselves we find that the NGC 130 0 morphology is best described by a thick disc model for the bar region and a 2D disc model for the spirals, with both components rotating with the same pattern speed $\Omega_p$=16 \ksk !. In such a case, the whole structure is included inside the corotation of the system. The bar is supported mainly by regular orbits, while the spirals are supported by chaotic orbits.