2017/08/17 by Felix Schulze, Schulze, Felix, Rhea–Silvia Remus +3
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomical Observations and Instrumentation #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Astrophysics of Galaxies (astro-ph.GA) #FOS: Physical sciences #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1708.05390
openalex publication_date 2017/08/17 · openalex created_date 2022/08/15 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We present a case study of a early-type galaxy (ETG) hosting a kinematically\ndistinct core (KDC) formed in a binary high resolution 1:1 spiral galaxy merger\nsimulation. The runtime of the simulation is pushed up to 10Gyr to follow the\ncomplete evolution of various physical properties. To investigate the origin of\nthe KDC, the stellar component residing within the KDC is dissected, revealing\nthat the rotational signal is purely generated by stars that belong to the KDC\nfor at least 0.5Gyr and are newly formed during the merging process. Following\nthe orientation of the total stellar angular momentum of the KDC, we show that\nit performs a motion comparable to the precession of a gyroscope in a\ngravitational potential. We draw the conclusion that the motion of the KDC is a\nsuperposition of an intrinsic rotation and a global precession that gets\ngradually damped over cosmic time. Finally, the stability of the KDC over the\ncomplete runtime of the simulation is investigated by tracing the evolution of\nthe widely used \λR parameter and the misalignment angle\ndistribution. We find that the KDC is stable for about 3Gyr after the merger\nand subsequently disperses completely on a timescale of ~1.5Gyr.\n