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A New Method for Corotation Determination in Spiral and Barred Galaxies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2006

Xiaolei Zhang
Affiliation:
Remote Sensing Division, U.S. Naval Research Lab, 4555 Overlook Ave. SW, Washington, DC 20375, USA email: [email protected]
Ronald J. Buta
Affiliation:
Department Physics and Astronomy, University of Alabama, 514 University Blvd E, Box 870324, Tuscaloosa, AL 35401, USA email: [email protected]
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Abstract

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The approaches proposed in the past for determining the pattern speeds and corotation radii of the density waves in spiral and barred galaxies are mostly limited in their scope and accuracy. In this work, we have developed a general approach for the determination of corotation radii, which is applicable to any galaxy whose density wave modes have reached quasi-steady state – a condition empirically found to be the case for most nearby disk galaxies. The method utilizes an azimuthal phase shift between the potential and the density distributions for the density wave modes, the existence and the radial variations of which are closely related to the dynamical mechanism leading to the secular evolution of the basic state of the same disk galaxies (Zhang 1996, ApJ, 457, 125). We have used this method to derive corotation radii of over 100 galaxies using the near-infrared images of the Ohio State University Bright Galaxy Survey (OSUBGS, Eskridge et al. 2002, ApJS, 143, 73).

Type
Contributed Papers
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2007