Dynamical Friction in Cuspy Galaxies

TL;DR

This paper investigates the limitations of classical dynamical friction models in cuspy galaxies and presents preliminary results on more reliable integration methods for massive objects in such environments.

Contribution

It introduces improved methods for modeling dynamical friction in galaxies with central density cusps, addressing failures of local approximations.

Findings

Classical dynamical friction models fail in cuspy galaxy centers.

Preliminary results show potential for more accurate integration of massive object motion.

The work advances understanding of dynamical processes in dense galactic cores.

Abstract

It is well known that a large fraction of galaxies have cuspy luminosity profiles in their central regions, at least within the observational resolution. In such cases, the often used, simplified, local approximation for the dynamical friction braking classical term fails when the massive satellite moves through the inner parts of the galaxy, although the scattering integral still converges for phase space distribution singularities that are not too sharp. Here we present preliminary results of our work aiming at finding better and more reliable results from the integration of motion of massive objects (globular clusters) in galaxies where the density diverges to the center in a power law form, with exponent greater than -2.