Anomalously Weak Dynamical Friction in Halos

J. A. Sellwood; Victor P. Debattista

doi:10.1007/978-1-4020-5573-7_31

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arXiv · astro-ph/0508036

Anomalously Weak Dynamical Friction in Halos

J. A. Sellwood·Victor P. Debattista

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Abstract

A bar rotating in a pressure-supported halo generally loses angular momentum and slows down due to dynamical friction. Valenzuela & Klypin report a counter-example of a bar that rotates in a dense halo with little friction for several Gyr, and argue that their result invalidates the claim by Debattista & Sellwood that fast bars in real galaxies require a low halo density. We show that it is possible for friction to cease for a while should the pattern speed of the bar fluctuate upward. The reduced friction is due to an anomalous gradient in the phase-space density of particles at the principal resonance created by the earlier evolution. The result obtained by Valenzuela & Klypin is probably an artifact of their adaptive mesh refinement method, but anyway could not persist in a real galaxy. The conclusion by Debattista & Sellwood still stands.

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J. A. Sellwood, Victor P. Debattista. 2005-08-01. Anomalously Weak Dynamical Friction in Halos. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-5573-7_31

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