Narrow Results

We consider the consequences of applying general relativity to the description of the dynamics of a galaxy, given the observed flattened rotation curves. The galaxy is modeled as a stationary axially symmetric pressure-free fluid. In spite of the weak gravitational field and the nonrelativistic source velocities, the mathematical system is still seen to be nonlinear. It is shown that the rotation curves for various galaxies as examples are consistent with the mass density distributions of the visible matter within essentially flattened disks. This obviates the need for a massive halo of exotic dark matter. We determine that the mass density for the luminous threshold as tracked in the radial direction is 10^-21.75kg · m^-3 for these galaxies and conjecture that this will be the case for other galaxies yet to be analyzed. We present a velocity dispersion test to determine the extent, if of any significance, of matter that may lie beyond the visible/HI region. This is determined by examining the rotation curves at different galactic latitudes, bringing into consideration the global dynamical structure of the galaxy. The demand for global consistency applies not only to our own but also to all proposed models and theories. Various comments and criticisms from colleagues are addressed.

We study in detail the structure of phase space in the neighborhood of stable periodic orbits in a rotating 3D potential of galactic type. Using the color and rotation method to investigate the properties of the invariant tori in 4D spaces of the section, we compare our results with those of previous works and we describe the morphology of the rotational, as well as of the tube tori in 4D space. We find sticky chaotic orbits in the immediate neighborhood of sets of invariant tori surrounding 3D stable periodic orbits. Particularly useful for galactic dynamics is the behavior of chaotic orbits trapped for long time between 4D invariant tori. We find that they support during this time the same structure as the quasi-periodic orbits around the stable periodic orbits, contributing however to a local increase of the dispersion of velocities. Finally, we find that the tube tori do not appear in the 3D projections of the spaces of the section in the axisymmetric Hamiltonian we examined.

The process of relaxation of a system of particles interacting with long-range forces is relevant to many areas of physics. For obvious reasons, in Stellar Dynamics much attention has been paid to the case of r^-2 force law. However, recently the interest in alternative gravities has emerged, and significant differences with respect to Newtonian gravity have been found in relaxation phenomena. Here we begin to explore this matter further, by using a numerical model of spherical shells interacting with an r^-α force law obeying the superposition principle. We find that the virialization and phase-mixing times depend on the exponent α, with small values of α corresponding to longer relaxation times, similarly to what happens when comparing for N-body simulations in classical gravity and in Modified Newtonian Dynamics.

We study the orbital behavior at the neighborhood of complex unstable periodic orbits in a 3D autonomous Hamiltonian system of galactic type. At a transition of a family of periodic orbits from stability to complex instability (also known as Hamiltonian Hopf Bifurcation) the four eigenvalues of the stable periodic orbits move out of the unit circle. Then the periodic orbits become complex unstable. In this paper, we first integrate initial conditions close to the ones of a complex unstable periodic orbit, which is close to the transition point. Then, we plot the consequents of the corresponding orbit in a 4D surface of section. To visualize this surface of section we use the method of color and rotation [Patsis & Zachilas, 1994]. We find that the consequents are contained in 2D "confined tori". Then, we investigate the structure of the phase space in the neighborhood of complex unstable periodic orbits, which are further away from the transition point. In these cases we observe clouds of points in the 4D surfaces of section. The transition between the two types of orbital behavior is abrupt.

This paper discusses phase space structures encountered in the neighborhood of periodic orbits with high order multiplicity in a 3D autonomous Hamiltonian system with a potential of galactic type. We consider 4D spaces of section and we use the method of color and rotation [Patsis & Zachilas, 1994] in order to visualize them. As examples, we use the case of two orbits, one 2-periodic and one 7-periodic. We investigate the structure of multiple tori around them in the 4D surface of section and in addition, we study the orbital behavior in the neighborhood of the corresponding simple unstable periodic orbits. By considering initially a few consequents in the neighborhood of the orbits in both cases we find a structure in the space of section, which is in direct correspondence with what is observed in a resonance zone of a 2D autonomous Hamiltonian system. However, in our 3D case we have instead of stability islands rotational tori, while the chaotic zone connecting the points of the unstable periodic orbit is replaced by filaments extending in 4D following a smooth color variation. For more intersections, the consequents of the orbit which started in the neighborhood of the unstable periodic orbit, diffuse in phase space and form a cloud that occupies a large volume surrounding the region containing the rotational tori. In this cloud the colors of the points are mixed. The same structures have been observed in the neighborhood of all m-periodic orbits we have examined in the system. This indicates a generic behavior.

We study the dynamics in the neighborhood of simple and double unstable periodic orbits in a rotating 3D autonomous Hamiltonian system of galactic type. In order to visualize the four-dimensional spaces of section, we use the method of color and rotation. We investigate the structure of the invariant manifolds that we found in the neighborhood of simple and double unstable periodic orbits in 4D spaces of section. We consider orbits in the neighborhood of the families x1v2, belonging to the x1 tree, and the z-axis (the rotational axis of our system). Close to the transition points from stability to simple instability, in the neighborhood of the bifurcated simple unstable x1v2 periodic orbits, we encounter the phenomenon of stickiness as the asymptotic curves of the unstable manifold surround regions of the phase space occupied by rotational tori existing in the region. For larger energies, away from the bifurcating point, the consequents of the chaotic orbits form clouds of points with mixing of color in their 4D representations. In the case of double instability, close to x1v2 orbits, we find clouds of points in the four-dimensional spaces of section. However, in some cases of double unstable periodic orbits belonging to the z-axis family we can visualize the associated unstable eigensurface. Chaotic orbits close to the periodic orbit remain sticky to this surface for long times (of the order of a Hubble time or more). Among the orbits we studied, we found those close to the double unstable orbits of the x1v2 family having the largest diffusion speed. The sticky chaotic orbits close to the bifurcation point of the simple unstable x1v2 orbit and close to the double unstable z-axis orbit that we have examined, have comparable diffusion speeds. These speeds are much slower than of the orbits in the neighborhood of x1v2 simple unstable periodic orbits away from the bifurcating point, or of the double unstable orbits of the same family having very different eigenvalues along the corresponding unstable eigendirections.

We investigate how the phase space structure of a Three-Dimensional (3D) autonomous Hamiltonian system evolves across a series of successive Two-Dimensional (2D) and 3D pitchfork and period-doubling bifurcations, as the transition of the parent families of Periodic Orbits (POs) from stability to simple instability leads to the creation of new stable POs. Our research illustrates the consecutive alterations in the phase space structure near POs as the stability of the main family of POs changes. This process gives rise to new families of POs within the system, either maintaining the same or exhibiting higher multiplicity compared to their parent families. Tracking such a phase space transformation is challenging in a 3D system. By utilizing the color and rotation technique to visualize the Four-Dimensional (4D) Poincaré surfaces of section of the system, i.e. projecting them onto a 3D subspace and employing color to represent the fourth dimension, we can identify distinct structural patterns. Perturbations of parent and bifurcating stable POs result in the creation of tori characterized by a smooth color variation on their surface. Furthermore, perturbations of simple unstable parent POs beyond the bifurcation point, which lead to the birth of new stable families of POs, result in the formation of figure-8 structures of smooth color variations. These figure-8 formations surround well-shaped tori around the bifurcated stable POs, losing their well-defined forms for energies further away from the bifurcation point. We also observe that even slight perturbations of highly unstable POs create a cloud of mixed color points, which rapidly move away from the location of the PO. Our study introduces, for the first time, a systematic visualization of 4D surfaces of section within the vicinity of higher multiplicity POs. It elucidates how, in these cases, the coexistence of regular and chaotic orbits contributes to shaping the phase space landscape.

In this work, we investigate the dynamical evolution of spherical self-gravitating systems under their own gravity with $N$-body simulations. For this purpose, we study the evolution of the generalized virialization relations, and particularly focus on the time evolution of the coarse-grained entropy of dark matter halos under various perturbations. First, we construct six single perturbation models under four initial conditions to mimic typical disturbances that a realistic gravitating system may encounter. With the simulation results, we show the time evolution of the entropy for the six perturbation models. In all these models, at first the entropy increases rapidly for a short period of time, slowly evolves for a longer period of time and then remains nearly unchanged in the subsequent evolution. The main dynamical mechanisms behind these evolutions should be violent relaxation and phase mixing. However, under repeated perturbations to the system, the evolution of entropy of self-gravitating systems manifests complete differences from that of the usual thermodynamical systems. We see that the entropy of the end states of every single perturbation, according to different repeated perturbation modes, either decreases or increases. We argue that the increasing or decreasing of the end-state entropy should be the reflection of the complexity of the thermodynamical states of self-gravitating systems. These conclusions are independent of the initial conditions. Besides, we demonstrate that the generalized virialization relations can reveal whether or not, or in which radius interval, the collisionless Boltzmann equation is suitable for description of a self-gravitating system, and can be used as good stability criteria of the system.

We propose a new theory to explain the formation of spiral arms and of all types of outer rings in barred galaxies. We have extended and applied the technique used in celestial mechanics to compute transfer orbits. Thus, our theory is based on the chaotic orbital motion driven by the invariant manifolds associated to the periodic orbits around the hyperbolic equilibrium points. In particular, spiral arms and outer rings are related to the presence of heteroclinic or homoclinic orbits. Thus, R₁ rings are associated to the presence of heteroclinic orbits, while R₁R₂ rings are associated to the presence of homoclinic orbits. Spiral arms and R₂ rings, however, appear when there exist neither heteroclinic nor homoclinic orbits. We examine the parameter space of three realistic, yet simple, barred galaxy models and discuss the formation of the different morphologies according to the properties of the galaxy model. The different morphologies arise from differences in the dynamical parameters of the galaxy.

The study of off-equatorial orbits in razor-thin disks is still in its beginnings. Contrary to what was presented in the literature in recent publications, the vertical stability criterion for equatorial circular orbits cannot be based on the vertical epicyclic frequency, because of the discontinuity in the gravitational field on the equatorial plane. We present a rigorous criterion for the vertical stability of circular orbits in systems composed by a razor-thin disk surrounded by a smooth axially symmetric distribution of matter, the latter representing additional structures such as thick disk, bulge and (dark matter) halo. This criterion is satisfied once the mass surface density of the thin disk is positive. Qualitative and quantitative analyses of nearly equatorial orbits are presented. In particular, the analysis of nearly equatorial orbits allows us to construct an approximate analytical third integral of motion in this region of phase-space, which describes the shape of these orbits in the meridional plane.