arXiv subjects

Junichi Baba

Publications and source records attributed to Junichi Baba.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

A differentiable hydrodynamical approach to the Milky Way bar pattern speed with CO longitude--velocity data

We present a differentiable hydrodynamical framework for modeling barred gas flow in the Milky Way and constraining broad low-loss regions in bar-pattern-speed parameter space from Galactic longitude--velocity data. The method evolves a neutral-gas disk in a fixed barred potential, projects it into longitude--velocity ($\ell$--$v$) space, and compares predicted and target maps using a cosine-distance loss applied to processed and masked maps. This emphasizes large-scale morphology rather than the absolute emission scale. Because the forward model is differentiable, gradients with respect to the bar pattern speed can be computed and used for direct optimization in observable space. We validate the method with self-consistency hydrodynamical mocks and with an independent mock generated by a different solver with more realistic interstellar-medium physics. These tests recover or identify low-loss regions near the input pattern speed, showing that the method captures coherent bar-driven structures in $\ell$--$v$ space. We then apply the framework to the observed CO $\ell$--$v$ structure of the inner Milky Way. The data yield broad low-loss regions rather than a unique best-fitting value. These regions include moderate pattern speeds, $|\Omega_{\rm b}|\sim30$--$40\,{\rm km\,s^{-1}\,kpc^{-1}}$, consistent with current stellar-dynamical constraints, although their location depends on the gas response time and viewing angle. This first application demonstrates the feasibility of differentiable hydrodynamical modeling of Galactic gas as an independent kinematic test of barred Milky Way models and as a step toward multi-parameter forward modeling in position--position--velocity space.

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arXiv2026

Axisymmetric Jeans modelling systematically overestimates the circular speed in the inner Milky Way

We quantify systematic biases in rotation curves inferred from steady, axisymmetric Jeans modelling when the underlying stellar velocity field is non-axisymmetric. Using a high-resolution $N$-body/hydrodynamic simulation of an isolated Milky Way-like disk galaxy, we construct mock stellar-kinematic measurements for two observer azimuths relative to the bar. One observer is placed at a Solar-like viewing angle of $25^\circ$ from the bar major axis, and the other at $115^\circ$. For each configuration, we analyse multiple snapshots and compare the Jeans-inferred circular-speed curve, $V_{\rm c,Jeans}(R)$, with a reference axisymmetric circular-speed curve, $V_{\rm c,axi}(R)$, defined from the azimuthally averaged ($m=0$) component of the gravitational field. The Jeans analysis is performed in a wedge-shaped mock observational volume that mimics limited sky coverage. For the $25^\circ$ configuration, the mean azimuthal streaming is typically higher than the azimuthally averaged expectation by $\approx 10$--$15~\mathrm{km\,s^{-1}}$, which leads to an average overestimate of the axisymmetrically defined circular speed by $\approx 4\%$ ($\approx 10~\mathrm{km\,s^{-1}}$) in the inner disk. Across snapshots, the mean offset corresponds to a $\sim 1.5$--$2\sigma$ systematic deviation of $V_{\rm c,Jeans}$ from $V_{\rm c,axi}$. For the $115^\circ$ configuration, the bias reverses sign and $V_{\rm c,Jeans}$ tends to underestimate $V_{\rm c,axi}$. Under the usual spherical approximation, a $\approx 4\%$ bias in $V_{\rm c}$ corresponds to an $\approx 8\%$ bias in the enclosed dynamical mass at fixed radius. These results imply that steady, axisymmetric Jeans modelling of Milky Way stellar kinematics can overestimate the axisymmetrically defined circular-speed curve at the percent level unless non-axisymmetric streaming is modelled explicitly or included in the error budget.

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arXiv2026

Vaulting the barrier: An intrinsic mechanism to fuel the gas beyond the nuclear ring into the central region of barred galaxies

Gas delivery to galactic centers powers nuclear starbursts and active galactic nuclei (AGNs), yet bar-driven inflow is generally expected to stall in a nuclear ring a few hundred parsecs across. Using three-dimensional Lagrangian hydrodynamic simulations in a fixed barred potential, we identify a bypass channel in which a fraction of the inflowing gas acquires vertical momentum, vaults across the ring, and reaches the inner few tens of parsecs. This pathway is absent in two-dimensional calculations, which instead predict long-lived stagnation at the ring. We find that the circumnuclear material within $\sim 50$ pc originates from gas initially located outside the ring ($\gtrsim 300$ pc), rather than from secondary inflow out of the ring itself. Successful delivery requires both a sufficiently large vertical excursion, $|z| \sim 100$ pc before encountering the ring, and substantial loss of azimuthal angular momentum $L_z$. The resulting inflow is organized rather than chaotic: center-reaching trajectories are confined to a limited spatial region set by the scale height of the ring gas. Most bar-driven gas still accumulates near the resonance and fuels star formation in the nuclear ring, but the vaulting stream selects a modest yet sufficient fraction that penetrates to the circumnuclear disk. These results suggest that intrinsically three-dimensional gas motions help link nuclear starbursts, AGN fueling, and the frequent misalignment of nuclear disks with respect to their host galaxies.

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arXiv2026

Tree-ring structure of Galactic bar resonance in N-body simulations

We study the structure and evolution of the galactic bar's resonant phase-space in self-consistent N-body simulations of the Milky Way, with and without perturbations from the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy. In an idealized disk evolution model in which stars are perturbed solely by a bar that spins down due to dynamical friction against the dark matter halo, it is predicted that stars trapped in the bar's corotation resonance form a characteristic `tree-ring' structure in phase space: as the resonance expands in volume while sweeping outwards, it sequentially captures surrounding stars at its surface, such that stars captured earlier in the inner disk are found preferentially near the core of the resonance. However, it has not been clear whether such a structure persists in a more realistic galactic disk subject to a variety of time-dependent perturbations, in particular those by spiral arms and passing satellite galaxies. This paper demonstrates that the predicted tree-ring structure indeed emerges in a realistic noisy environment using self-consistent N-body simulations. Despite the presence of spiral arms, encounters with the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy, as well as fluctuations in the bar's pattern speed, and not least numerical noise -- all of which drive stellar diffusion in phase space -- the tree-ring structure remains well-preserved in the slow angle-action space. Our results demonstrate that the tree-ring structure of the bar's resonance is a robust signal of the bar's spin-down and hence its discovery in the Milky Way implies the existence of a dark matter halo that removed angular momentum from the bar.

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arXiv2026

Bar-Informed Kinematic-Distance Mapping of Molecular Gas in the Inner Milky Way

We present a bar-informed kinematic-distance (BIKD) method to reconstruct face-on molecular-gas maps of the inner Milky Way from PPV data, relaxing the standard assumption of axisymmetric circular rotation that can generate severe artifacts in barred regions. BIKD replaces the rotation curve with a non-axisymmetric streaming field extracted from hydrodynamical simulations in an observationally constrained barred Galactic potential, and infers a discrete distance posterior along each sightline using a Gaussian likelihood in line-of-sight velocity. To mitigate multi-modality, we adopt posterior-weighted map making via posterior sampling. We validate the full pipeline in closed-loop tests on the simulations, showing that the recovered large-scale morphology is only weakly sensitive to simple distance priors and remains stable across plausible variations in bar angle, snapshot time, and pattern speed. We then apply BIKD to a Galactic CO survey to obtain a face-on $\Sigma$ map. Compared to a standard axisymmetric kinematic-distance (KD) reconstruction, BIKD strongly suppresses line-of-sight--elongated finger-of-God features and robustly recovers a bar-aligned, quadrant-asymmetric inner-Galaxy morphology under model marginalization. The model-marginalized radial profiles show an approximately exponential decline beyond $\sim4$ kpc, a pronounced deficit at $R\sim0.5$--$3.5$ kpc, and a central concentration consistent with Central Molecular Zone surface densities. Finally, we compare prominent ridge-shaped overdensities in the BIKD map with independent spiral-arm loci traced by high-mass star-forming region masers with VLBI trigonometric parallaxes and by classical Cepheids with period--luminosity distances. Several maser-parallax segments are qualitatively consistent with the dominant BIKD ridges, whereas the Cepheid loci do not coincide with them within their recommended azimuth range.

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arXiv2026

Galaxy fly-bys sustain bar-halo friction and bar slowdown in disk galaxies

Bars in disk galaxies slow down as they transfer their angular momentum to their dark matter halo via dynamical friction from near-resonant orbits. This bar-halo dynamical friction can become ineffective once phase mixing erases the phase-space gradient around the main resonances. We present fully self-consistent $N$-body simulations of a Milky Way-like disk galaxy with a single dwarf-galaxy fly-by in prograde and retrograde orbits before, during, and after bar formation. In our models, the fly-bys do not trigger a long-lived tidal bar; the bar forms on essentially the same time as in the isolated model. After the encounter, however, all perturbed models develop bars that are stronger and slower than in the isolated one. The final pattern speed depends little on the encounter time, but it does depend on the encounter direction relative to the disk rotation: prograde encounters slow the bar more than retrograde ones. The angular-momentum evolution shows that the disk loses its angular momentum and the halo gains it, consistent with bar-halo friction. By probing the particle distribution of the halo in angle-action space, we demonstrate that the isolated bar enters a metastable, saturated state with a flattened distribution in the phase space around the bar's corotation resonance, whereas a dwarf passage excites long-lived fluctuations in the halo that restore the phase-space gradients near the corotation and thereby sustain the bar-halo friction. This mechanism explains the continued slowdown and growth of bars after fly-bys. It may be relevant to the Milky Way, whose bar formed near the epoch of a major ancient accretion event, suggesting that an early encounter could have influenced the subsequent secular evolution of the bar.

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arXiv2026

Kinematic-Distance Biases in the Inner Milky Way from a Stellar-Dynamically Constrained Bar

We quantify how bar-driven non-circular motions bias Milky-Way gas maps inferred with the kinematic-distance (KD) method. KD reconstructions of H\,\textsc{i} and CO surveys assume circular rotation in an axisymmetric potential, an assumption that is strongly violated in the barred inner Milky Way. We use high-resolution hydrodynamical simulations of gas flow in an observationally constrained barred Milky Way potential. From a quasi-steady snapshot we generate synthetic longitude--velocity data and apply a standard axisymmetric KD inversion using the circular-speed curve derived from the $m=0$ component of the same potential. To isolate non-circular effects, we remove the near--far ambiguity by selecting, for each gas element, the KD branch closest to its true distance. We find that the KD method reproduces the gas distribution reasonably well outside the bar-dominated region ($R \gtrsim 5$~kpc), but fails systematically in the bar region ($R \sim 0.5$--3~kpc). There the KD-reconstructed face-on map exhibits anisotropic, quadrant-dependent artifacts, including arc-like overdensities and LOS-elongated low-density cavities. In azimuthally averaged profiles, these anisotropic misassignments translate into net radial mixing: the axisymmetric KD inversion substantially fills in the true bar-induced depression (hereafter, the ``bar gap'') and yields a flatter inner profile. Distance-error maps show coherent structures with $|\Delta d| \sim 1$--2~kpc and relative errors of several tens of percent along the bar and inner ring, coincident with zones where the KD mapping is intrinsically ill-conditioned, quantified by a large geometric sensitivity $S \equiv \left|\partial d/\partial V_{\rm LOS}^{\rm circ}\right|$. In these regions the error is well approximated to first order by $\Delta d \simeq S\,\Delta V_{\rm LOS}$, linking KD failures directly to bar-driven streaming velocities. ...

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arXiv2025

Bar-driven Streaming Motions Mimic a Massive Bulge in the Inner Milky Way

The circular speed curve of the Milky Way provides a key constraint on its mass distribution, reflecting the axisymmetric component of the gravitational potential. This is especially critical in the inner Galaxy ($R \lesssim 4$ kpc), where non-axisymmetric structures such as the stellar bar and nuclear stellar disk strongly influence dynamics. However, significant discrepancies remain between circular speed curves inferred from stellar dynamical modeling and those derived from the terminal-velocity method applied to gas kinematics. To investigate this, we perform three-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations including cooling, heating, star formation, and feedback, under a realistic gravitational potential derived from stellar dynamical models calibrated to observational data. This potential includes the Galactic bar, stellar disks, dark matter halo, nuclear stellar disk, and nuclear star cluster. We generate synthetic longitude-velocity ($l$-$v$) diagrams and apply the terminal-velocity method to derive circular speeds. The simulated gas reproduces the observed terminal-velocity envelope, including a steep inner rise. We find this feature arises from bar-driven non-circular motions, which cause the terminal-velocity method to overestimate circular speeds by up to a factor of 2 at $R \sim 0.4$ kpc, and enclosed mass by up to a factor of 4. These results suggest that inner gas-based rotation curves can significantly overestimate central mass concentrations. The steep inner rise in gas-derived circular speeds does not require a massive classical bulge but can be explained by bar-induced streaming motions. Rather than proposing a new mechanism, our study provides a clear, Milky Way-specific demonstration of this effect, emphasizing the importance of dynamical modeling that explicitly includes non-circular motions for accurate mass inference in the inner Milky Way.

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arXiv2025

Influence of Bar Formation on Star Formation Segregation and Stellar Migration: Implications for Variations in the Age Distribution of Milky Way Disk Stars

We present a chemo-dynamical $N$-body/hydrodynamic simulation of an isolated Milky Way-like galaxy to investigate how bar formation influences star formation rates, stellar migration, and the resulting age and metallicity distributions of disk stars. Focusing on the transient epoch of bar formation, a phase that triggers gas inflows, enhances local star formation, and drives significant orbital migration, we find that the star formation rate in the inner disk exhibits a pronounced peak during this period. This behavior arises from the combined effect of vigorous star formation driven by strong spiral arms prior to bar formation and the subsequent suppression of star formation once the bar is established. In contrast, star formation in the outer disk persists after bar formation at modest levels, and enhanced outward migration of stars originally formed in the inner regions gives rise to a pronounced peak in the outer disk's stellar age distribution corresponding to the bar formation epoch. Moreover, stars formed during this epoch tend to exhibit higher gas-phase metallicities, reflecting their origin in more metal-rich inner regions. Although our model does not capture every detail of the Milky Way's complex evolution, our results highlight the dominant role of bar driven migration in segregating star formation activity and in shaping the long-term chemical and age structure of the Galactic disk. Recent observational studies suggest that the Milky Way's bar is approximately 8 Gyr old; therefore, our findings imply that the age distribution of stars in the solar circle and outer disk should show a corresponding peak around that age.

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arXiv2025

Ripples spreading across the Galactic disc. Interplay of direct and indirect effects of the Sagittarius dwarf impact

Gaia data have revealed vertically asymmetric phase-space structures in the Milky Way (MW) disc, such as phase spirals, indicating vertical oscillations. These oscillations exhibit two distinct modes: the bending mode and the breathing mode, associated with one-arm and two-arm phase spirals, respectively. This study aims to explore the excitation mechanisms of the bending and breathing modes and their subsequent evolution in the MW disc, focusing on the interplay between direct perturbations from the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy and indirect contributions from tidally induced spiral arms. We perform high-resolution $N$-body simulations to model the interaction between an MW-like disc galaxy and a Sagittarius dwarf-like satellite. These simulations resolve fine phase-space structures, enabling analysis of the bending and breathing modes at both macroscopic (global bending and breathing waves) and microscopic (local phase spirals) scales. Our simulations demonstrate that the satellite's perturbation directly excites the bending mode and induces spiral arms in the galactic disc. These spiral arms excite the breathing mode, making it an indirect consequence of the satellite interaction. Initially, the bending mode dominates, but it rapidly decays due to horizontal mixing. In contrast, the breathing mode persists for a longer duration, sustained by the spiral arms, leading to a transition from a bending-dominated to a breathing-dominated state. This transition progresses faster in the inner galaxy than in the outer regions. The simulations reproduce the one-arm phase spiral observed in the solar neighbourhood and reveal two-arm phase spirals, particularly in the inner galaxy, associated with spiral arm-induced breathing modes. Our findings highlight the combined effects of direct satellite perturbations and indirect spiral arm dynamics in shaping the vertical structure of the MW disc.

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arXiv2024

Solar System Migration Points to a Renewed Concept: Galactic Habitable Orbits

Astrophysical evidence suggests that the Sun was born near 5 kpc from the Galactic center, within the corotation radius of the Galactic bar, around 6-7 kpc. This presents challenges for outward migration due to the Jacobi energy constraint, preventing stars from easily overcoming the corotation barrier. In this study, we use test particle simulations to explore two possible migration pathways for the Sun: a "trapped" scenario, where the Sun's orbit was influenced by a slowing Galactic bar, and an "untrapped" scenario driven by dynamic spiral arms. Our results demonstrate that both mechanisms can explain how the Sun migrated from its birth radius (approximately 5 kpc) to its current orbital radius around 8.5-9 kpc. Furthermore, we investigate the environmental changes experienced by the Sun along these migration pathways, focusing on variations in radiation hazards and comet fluxes, which may have impacted planetary habitability. These findings highlight the dynamic nature of galactic habitability, emphasizing that the path a star takes within the Milky Way can significantly affect its surrounding environment and the potential for life. We propose a new concept of "Galactic habitable orbits," which accounts for evolving galactic structures and their effects on stellar and planetary systems. This work contributes to a deeper understanding of the solar system's migration and its implications for habitability within the Milky Way.

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arXiv2024

Clues to growth and disruption of two neighbouring spiral arms of the Milky Way

Studying the nature of spiral arms is essential for understanding the formation of the intricate disc structure of the Milky Way. The European Space Agency's Gaia mission has provided revolutionary observational data that have uncovered detailed kinematical features of stars in the Milky Way. However, so far the nature of spiral arms continues to remain a mystery. Here we present that the stellar kinematics traced by the classical Cepheids around the Perseus and Outer spiral arms in the Milky Way shows strikingly different kinematical properties from each other: the radial and azimuthal velocities of Cepheids with respect to the Galactic centre show positive and negative correlations in the Perseus and Outer arms, respectively. We also found that the dynamic spiral arms commonly seen in an N-body/hydrodynamics simulation of a Milky Way-like galaxy can naturally explain the observed kinematic trends. Furthermore, a comparison with such a simulation suggests that the Perseus arm is being disrupted while the Outer arm is growing. Our findings suggest that two neighbouring spiral arms in distinct evolutionary phases - growing and disrupting phases - coexist in the Milky Way.

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arXiv2023

Exploring the Sun's birth radius and the distribution of planet building blocks in the Milky Way galaxy: A multi-zone Galactic chemical evolution approach

We explore the influence of the Milky Way galaxy's chemical evolution on the formation, structure, and habitability of the Solar system. Using a multi-zone Galactic Chemical Evolution (GCE) model, we successfully reproduce key observational constraints, including the age-metallicity ([Fe/H]) relation, metallicity distribution functions, abundance gradients, and [X/Fe] ratio trends for critical elements involved in planetary mineralogy, including C, O, Mg, and Si. Our GCE model suggests that the Sun formed in the inner Galactic disc, $R_{\rm birth,\odot}\approx 5$ kpc. We also combined a stoichiometric model with the GCE model to examine the temporal evolution and spatial distribution of planet building blocks (PBBs) within the Milky Way galaxy, revealing trends in the condensed mass fraction ($f_{\rm cond}$), iron-to-silicon mass fraction ($f_{\rm iron}$), and water mass fraction ($f_{\rm water}$) over time and towards the inner Galactic disc regions. Specifically, our model predicts a higher $f_{\rm cond}$ in the protoplanetary disc within the inner regions of the Milky Way galaxy, as well as an increased $f_{\rm iron}$ and a decreased $f_{\rm water}$ in the inner regions. Based on these findings, we discuss the potential impact of the Sun's birth location on the overall structure and habitability of the Solar System.

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arXiv2023

Impacts of the Local arm on the local circular velocity inferred from the Gaia DR3 young stars in the Milky Way

A simple one-dimensional axisymmetric disc model is applied to the kinematics of OB stars near the Sun obtained from Gaia DR3 catalogue. The model determines the 'local centrifugal speed' $V_\mathrm{c}(R_{0})$ - defined as the circular velocity in the Galactocentric rest frame, where the star would move in a near-circular orbit if the potential is axisymmetric with the local potential of the Galaxy. We find that the $V_\mathrm{c}(R_{0})$ values and their gradient vary across the selected region of stars within the solar neighbourhood. By comparing with an N-body/hydrodynamic simulation of a Milky Way-like galaxy, we find that the kinematics of the young stars in the solar neighbourhood is affected by the Local arm, which makes it difficult to measure $V_\mathrm{c}(R_{0})$. However, from the resemblance between the observational data and the simulation, we suggest that the known rotational velocity gap between the Coma Bernices and Hyades-Pleiades moving groups could be driven by the co-rotation resonance of the Local arm, which can be used to infer the azimuthally averaged circular velocity. We find that $V_\mathrm{c}(R)$ obtained from the $\mathrm{D}<2$ kpc sample is well matched with this gap at the position of the Local arm. Hence, we argue that our results from the $\mathrm{D}<2$ kpc sample, $V_\mathrm{c}(R_{0})= 233.95\pm2.24$ km $\mathrm{s}^{-1}$, is close to the azimuthally averaged circular velocity rather than the local centrifugal speed, which is influenced by the presence of the Local arm.

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arXiv2023

Growing Local arm inferred by the breathing motion

Theoretical models of spiral arms suggest that the spiral arms provoke a vertical bulk motion in disc stars. By analysing the breathing motion, a coherent asymmetric vertical motion around the mid-plane of the Milky Way disc, with $\textit{Gaia}$ DR3, we found that a compressing breathing motion presents along the Local arm. On the other hand, with an $N$-body simulation of an isolated Milky Way-like disc galaxy, we found that the transient and dynamic spiral arms induce compressing breathing motions when the arms are in the growth phase, while the expanding breathing motion appears in the disruption phase. The observed clear alignment of the compressing breathing motion with the Local arm is similar to what is seen in the growth phase of the simulated spiral arms. Hence, we suggest that the Local arm's compressing breathing motion can be explained by the Local arm being in the growth phase of a transient and dynamic spiral arm. We also identified the tentative signatures of the expanding breathing motion associated with the Perseus arm and also the Outer arm coinciding with the compressing breathing motion. This may infer that the Perseus and Outer arms are in the disruption and growth phases, respectively.

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arXiv2023

Dynamical Influence of a Central Massive Object on Double-Barred Galaxies: Self-Destruction Mechanism of Secondary Bars

Double-barred galaxies exhibit sub-kpc secondary stellar bars that are crucial for channeling gases towards a central massive object (CMO) such as a supermassive black hole or a nuclear star cluster. Recent $N$-body simulations have uncovered a novel galaxy evolution scenario wherein the mass of the CMO increases owing to the secondary bar, resulting in the eventual destruction of the latter. Consequently, the CMO mass growth halts, thus suggesting a maximum CMO mass of $\approx 10^{-3}$ of the stellar mass of the galaxy. This study focused on backbone orbit families, particularly double-frequency orbits, within double-barred galaxies. Consequently, the dynamic influence of a CMO on these orbits was investigated. The results of the study revealed the emergence of a new orbital resonance within the central region of the galaxy upon the introduction of a CMO. Orbits subjected to this resonance become chaotic and fail to support the secondary bar, ultimately resulting in the destruction of the entire structure. This is partly because of the inability of the secondary bar to obtain support from the newly generated orbit families following the appearance of resonance. Through the estimation of the condition of secondary bar destruction in realistic double-bar galaxies with varying pattern speeds, the results of the study established that such destruction occurred when the CMO mass reached $\approx 10^{-3}$ of the galaxy mass. Furthermore, a physical explanation of the galaxy evolution scenario was provided, thereby elucidating the interaction between the CMO and the secondary bar. The understanding of the co-evolution of the secondary bar and the CMO, based on stellar orbital motion, is a crucial step towards future observational studies of stars within the bulge of the Milky Way.

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arXiv2023

Detecting a disk bending wave in a barred-spiral galaxy at redshift 4.4

The recent discovery of barred spiral galaxies in the early universe ($z>2$) poses questions of how these structures form and how they influence galaxy evolution in the early universe. In this study, we investigate the morphology and kinematics of the far infrared (FIR) continuum and [CII] emission in BRI1335-0417 at $z\approx 4.4$ from ALMA observations. The variations in position angle and ellipticity of the isophotes show the characteristic signature of a barred galaxy. The bar, $3.3^{+0.2}_{-0.2}$ kpc long in radius and bridging the previously identified two-armed spiral, is evident in both [CII] and FIR images, driving the galaxy's rapid evolution by channelling gas towards the nucleus. Fourier analysis of the [CII] velocity field reveals an unambiguous kinematic $m=2$ mode with a line-of-sight velocity amplitude of up to $\sim30-40$ km s$^{-1}$; a plausible explanation is the disk's vertical bending mode triggered by external perturbation, which presumably induced the high star formation rate and the bar/spiral structure. The bar identified in [CII] and FIR images of the gas-rich disk galaxy ($\gtrsim 70$\% of the total mass within radius $R\approx 2.2$ disk scale lengths) suggests a new perspective of early bar formation in high redshift gas-rich galaxies -- a gravitationally unstable gas-rich disk creating a star-forming gaseous bar, rather than a stellar bar emerging from a pre-existing stellar disk. This may explain the prevalent bar-like structures seen in FIR images of high-redshift submillimeter galaxies.

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arXiv2023

JASMINE: Near-Infrared Astrometry and Time Series Photometry Science

Japan Astrometry Satellite Mission for INfrared Exploration (JASMINE) is a planned M-class science space mission by the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. JASMINE has two main science goals. One is the Galactic archaeology with Galactic Center Survey, which aims to reveal the Milky Way's central core structure and formation history from Gaia-level (~25 $\mu$as) astrometry in the Near-Infrared (NIR) Hw-band (1.0-1.6 $\mu$m). The other is the Exoplanet Survey, which aims to discover transiting Earth-like exoplanets in the habitable zone from NIR time-series photometry of M dwarfs when the Galactic center is not accessible. We introduce the mission, review many science objectives, and present the instrument concept. JASMINE will be the first dedicated NIR astrometry space mission and provide precise astrometric information of the stars in the Galactic center, taking advantage of the significantly lower extinction in the NIR. The precise astrometry is obtained by taking many short-exposure images. Hence, the JASMINE Galactic center survey data will be valuable for studies of exoplanet transits, asteroseismology, variable stars and microlensing studies, including discovery of (intermediate mass) black holes. We highlight a swath of such potential science, and also describe synergies with other missions.

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