2023/09/25 by Mattia C. Sormani, Emanuele Sobacchi, Sormani, Mattia C. +3 · 2 citations
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #Astrophysics of Galaxies (astro-ph.GA) #Combustion and flame dynamics #FOS: Physical sciences
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2309.14093
openalex publication_date 2023/09/25 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
Gaseous nuclear rings are large-scale coherent structures commonly found at the centres of barred galaxies. We propose that they are an accumulation of gas at the inner edge of an extensive gap that forms around the Inner Lindblad Resonance (ILR). The gap initially opens because the bar potential excites strong trailing waves near the ILR, which remove angular momentum from the gas disc and transport the gas inwards. The gap then widens because the bar potential continuously excites trailing waves at the inner edge of the gap, which remove further angular momentum, moving the edge further inwards until it stops at a distance of several wavelengths from the ILR. The gas accumulating at the inner edge of the gap forms the nuclear ring. The speed at which the gap edge moves and its final distance from the ILR strongly depend on the sound speed, explaining the puzzling dependence of the nuclear ring radius on the sound speed in simulations.