arXiv subjects

Sandeep Kumar Kataria

Publications and source records attributed to Sandeep Kumar Kataria.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

The Environmental Switch in Black Hole Feeding: Bar-Driven vs. Merger-Driven Growth in IllustrisTNG50

The relative roles of secular disc processes and galaxy interactions in driving the growth of supermassive black hole (SMBH) remain unclear. We present a time-resolved, per galaxy analysis of SMBH mass assembly that explicitly tracks bar formation, merger events, and the environment along the main progenitor branches using the high resolution IllustrisTNG50 cosmological simulation. We analyze barred and unbarred disc galaxies in isolated and non-isolated environments using physically motivated boundary definitions. We found that SMBH fueling pathways are regulated by the environment through the timing of bar formation relative to mergers. In isolated barred galaxies, stellar bars form early in dynamically cold discs and establish sustained, coherent accretion phases that regulate late-time SMBH growth. In contrast, in non-isolated galaxies, SMBH growth is dominated by early merger-driven accretion episodes, whereas bars form later and contribute weakly to the primary growth phase. Unbarred control samples show that mergers can trigger rapid SMBH growth without bars, but such growth remains episodic, whereas isolated discs without bars lack sustained accretion. These results demonstrate an environmental bifurcation in SMBH fueling: mergers act as efficient triggers of early growth in dynamically active systems, while bars regulate prolonged accretion only when they form in quiescent discs. This study provides a unified time-domain framework linking galaxy environment, disc dynamics, and SMBH growth by resolving the temporal ordering of bars, mergers, and accretion.

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arXiv2026

The Role of Inner Halo Angular Momentum (Spin) in Shaping Dark Matter Bars in Milky Way Analogs

Studies of galactic bars have primarily focused on stellar bars, since they can be directly observed through ultraviolet to infrared wavebands. Cosmological as well as idealised simulations reveal that the dark matter (DM) haloes interact with baryonic matter, primarily the stellar bars, dynamically by means of the exchange of angular momentum. In these simulations, the spherical DM halo dynamically responds to interaction with the stellar bar by reshaping its orbital structure in the proximity of the stellar bar, forming a bar-like configuration, called as the Dark Matter (DM) bar. Using N-body simulations of Milky Way analogs we discuss the role of inner halo angular momentum, measured as halo spin parameter {\lambda} of the dark matter halo, on formation and evolutionary characteristics of the DM bars. Our systematic study involves haloes with initial spin configurations ranging from {\lambda} = 0 to 0.1. The result conveys that DM bar formation and its characteristics are extensively dependent on the initial spin parameter {\lambda} of the DM halo. We demonstrate that the strength of the dark matter bar gradually increases with an increase in halo spin in long-term evolution, with a significant impact of stellar bar buckling on dark matter bar strength. The evolutionary characteristics of the DM bar are strongly influenced by the initial spin of the host halo.

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arXiv2025

Can A Kinematically Hot and Thick Disk Form A Bar? : Role of Highly Spinning Dark Matter Halos

Recent JWST observations claim the existence of a significant fraction of bars in the kinematically hotter and thicker disk at high redshift Universe. These observations challenge the current understanding of disk stability in galaxies similar to the Milky Way. The analytical work and N-body simulations suggest that the kinematically hot (dispersion-dominated) and thick disk are stable against bar formation. In this work, we perform the controlled N-body simulations of a kinematically hot and thick disk, which is residing in a non-rotating and spinning dark matter halo. We report that the disk, which is classically stable against bar instability in the live and non-rotating halo, leads to bar formation in a spinning halo environment. The spinning halo model is 8 times more efficient in transporting angular momentum from the disk to the halo compared to the non-spinning halo. We claim that Ostriker-Peebles and ELN bar formation criteria do not predict bar formation for both the non-roating and spinning halo. The recent criteria from Jang-Kim successfully predict the bar stability for the non-rotating halo model, but not for the spinning halo model. These results provide an important insight into the bar formation processes for thick and hot disks at high redshift.

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arXiv2025

Kerr Black Hole Shadows in Dispersive Plasma: Frequency-Dependent Geodesics and Shadow Distortions

The black hole shadow, a direct probe of the event horizon's gravitational influence, has been observationally confirmed by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT). While theoretical models of shadows in vacuum are mature, real astrophysical black holes like M87* and Sgr A* are enveloped in plasma, which can alter photon trajectories through dispersion. Current understanding, based on foundational work, indicates that only specific plasma distributions allow for an analytical treatment via the separation of the Hamilton-Jacobi equation. In this work, we build upon this framework to systematically investigate the propagation of light rays in Kerr spacetime surrounded by a pressureless, non-magnetized cold plasma. We explicitly derive the separability condition, identifying the exact class of plasma densities that permit a generalized Carter constant. For these models, we compute the photon regions and shadow boundaries, characterizing how the shadow's size and shape deviate from the vacuum case in a frequency-dependent manner. Our results provide analytical benchmarks for the distortion of shadows in dispersive media and determine the critical plasma frequency beyond which the shadow is erased, offering a direct link between observable shadow features and the properties of the ambient plasma environment and providing a foundation for studying more dynamic, non-separable plasma distributions.

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arXiv2025

Dependency of the Bar Formation Timescale On The Halo Spin

Bars are among the most prominent structures in disk galaxies. While the widely accepted swing-amplification theory provides a qualitative framework for their formation, the detailed physical processes remain incompletely understood. Previous studies have shown that the bar formation timescale in isolated galaxies depends exponentially on the disk mass fraction (the so-called "Fujii relation") and linearly on disk hotness and thickness. However, the influence of dark matter halo spin on bar formation has not been systematically investigated. In this work, we construct a suite of $N$-body models of disk and halo with varying disk mass fractions and amounts of random motions. By introducing prograde and retrograde spins in the dark matter halo, we explore how halo spin modifies the established empirical relations governing bar formation timescales. We find that these relations remain valid in both prograde and retrograde halo spin models. For rapid bar formation (short timescale), the effect of halo spin is nearly negligible. In contrast, for moderately slow bar formation, prograde (retrograde) halo spin tends to accelerate (suppress) bar onset. In cases of extremely slow bar formation, halo spin introduces a stronger but more stochastic influence. These trends might arise from the exchange of angular momentum between the stellar disk and the dark matter halo.

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arXiv2024

Orbital Support and Evolution of CX/OX Structures in Boxy/Peanut Bars

Barred galaxies exhibit boxy/peanut or X-shapes (BP/X) protruding from their disks in edge-on views. Two types of BP/X morphologies exist depending on whether the X-wings meet at the center (CX) or are off-centered (OX). Orbital studies indicate that various orbital types can generate X-shaped structures. Here, we provide a classification approach that identifies the specific orbit families responsible for generating OX and CX-shaped structures. Applying this approach to three different N-body bar models, we show that both OX and CX structures are associated with the x1 orbit family, but OX-supporting orbits possess higher angular momentum (closer to x1 orbits) than orbits in CX structures. Consequently, as the bar slows down the contribution of higher angular momentum OX-supporting orbits decreases and that of lower angular momentum orbits increases resulting in an evolution of the morphology from OX to CX. If the bar does not slow down, the shape of the BP/X structure and the fractions of OX/CX supporting orbits remain substantially unchanged. Bars that do not undergo buckling but that do slow down initially show the OX structure and are dominated by high angular momentum orbits, transitioning to a CX morphology. Bars that buckle exhibit a combination of both OX and CX supporting orbits immediately after the buckling, but become more CX dominated as their pattern speed decreases. This study demonstrates that the evolution of BP/X morphology and orbit populations strongly depends on the evolution of the bar angular momentum.

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arXiv2024

How do the successive buckling events affect a galaxy bar and stellar disk? Potential Observable Signatures For Spotting the Buckling Action -- I

Until now, observations have caught up only a handful of galaxies in ongoing buckling action. Interestingly, N-body simulations over the past several decades show that almost every bar buckles or vertically thickens as soon as it reaches its peak strength during its evolution and leads to box$/$ peanut$/$ x (BPX) shapes. In order to understand the effect of multiple buckling events on the observable properties of galactic bar and disk, we perform an N-body simulation of a Milky Way-type disk. The axisymmetric galaxy disk forms a bar within a Gyr of its evolution and the bar undergoes two successive buckling events. We report that the time spans of these two buckling events are 220 Myr and 1 Gyr which have almost similar strengths of the bending modes. As a result of these two buckling events, the sizes of BPX shapes are around 5.8 kpc and 8.6 kpc which are around two-thirds of the bar length at the end of each buckling event. We find that the first buckling occurs at a smaller scale (radius less than 3 kpc) with a shorter time span affecting the larger length scales of the disk which is quantified in terms of changes in $m$ =2 and $m$ = 4 Fourier modes. While the second buckling occurs at larger scales (radius of around 6 kpc) affecting the inner disk the most. Finally, we provide observable kinematic signatures (for example quadrupolar patterns of the line-of-sight velocities) which can potentially differentiate the successive buckling events.

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arXiv2024

Importance of Initial Condition on Bar Secular Evolution: Role of Halo Angular Momentum Distribution Discontinuity

The dark matter halo properties, for example, mass, spin and concentration play a significant role in the formation and evolution of bars in disk galaxies. This study highlights the importance of a new parameter: the dark matter halo angular momentum distribution in the central region of disk. We experiment with N-body galaxy models having a disk and dark matter similar to Milky Way-type galaxies. In these models, we vary the discontinuity of the angular momentum distribution of the halo (the total spin is the same for all models). Our N-body experiments suggest that bar forms in all models after a few Gyr of disk evolution. However, in the secular evolution of the bar, as we evolve these models until 9.78 Gyr, the bar gains its strength in the model with the most continuous halo angular momentum distribution, and the bar loses strength for the most discontinuous halo angular momentum distribution. The secular evolution of the bar suggests that box/peanut/x-shaped bulges similar to those found in the Milky Way disk should be more pronounced in halos with continuous halo angular momentum distributions. This study demonstrates the importance of the initial condition setup of galaxy systems, namely the discontinuity in the dark matter halo angular momentum distribution for a given density distribution, on the bar secular evolution in the disk galaxy simulations. Further, this study helps reconcile the conflicting results of bar secular evolution in a high-spinning halo of the recent literature.

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arXiv2024

Origin of reduced dynamical friction by dark matter halos with net prograde rotation

We provide an explanation for the reduced dynamical friction on galactic bars in spinning dark matter halos. Earlier work based on linear theory predicted an increase in dynamical friction when dark halos have a net forward rotation, because prograde orbits couple to bars with greater strength than retrograde orbits. Subsequent numerical studies, however, found the opposite trend: dynamical friction weakens with increasing spin of the halo. We revisit this problem and demonstrate that linear theory in fact correctly predicts a reduced torque in forward-rotating halos. We show that shifting the halo mass from retrograde to prograde phase space generates a positive gradient in the distribution function near the origin of the z-angular momentum (Lz=0), which results in a resonant transfer of Lz to the bar, making the net dynamical friction weaker. While this effect is subdominant for the major resonances, including the corotation resonance, it leads to a significant positive torque on the bar for the series of direct radial resonances, as these resonances are strongest at Lz=0. The overall dynamical friction from spinning halos is shown to decrease with the halo's spin, in agreement with the secular behavior of N-body simulations. We validate our linear calculation by computing the nonlinear torque from individual resonances using the angle-averaged Hamiltonian.

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arXiv2023

How does the presence of bar affects the fueling of supermassive black holes ? An IllustrisTNG100 perspective

We conduct a statistical study of black hole masses of barred and unbarred galaxies in the IllustrisTNG100 cosmological magneto-hydrodynamical simulations. This work aims to understand the role of the bars in the growth of central supermassive black hole mass and its implications on AGN fueling. Our sample consists of 1191 barred galaxies and 2738 unbarred galaxies in the IllustrisTNG100 simulations. To have an unbiased study, we perform our analysis with an equal number of barred and unbarred galaxies by using various controlled parameters like total galaxy mass, stellar mass, gas mass, dark matter halo mass, etc. Except for the stellar mass controlling, we find that the median of the black hole mass distribution for barred galaxies is higher than that of the unbarred ones indicating that stellar mass is a key parameter influencing the black hole growth. The higher mean accretion rate of the black holes in barred galaxies, averaged since the bar forming epoch (z~2 ), explains the higher mean black hole masses in barred galaxies. Further, we also test that these results are unaffected by other environmental processes like minor/major merger histories and neighboring gas density of black hole. Although the relationship between stellar mass, bar formation, and black hole growth is complex, with various mechanisms involved, our analysis suggests that bars can play a crucial role in feeding black holes, particularly in galaxies with massive stellar disks.

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arXiv2023

Modelling Dark Matter Halo Spin using Observations and Simulations: application to UGC 5288

Dark matter (DM) halo properties are extensively studied in cosmological simulations but are very challenging to estimate from observations. The DM halo density profile of observed galaxies is modelled using multiple probes that trace the dark matter potential. However, the angular momentum distribution of DM halos is still a subject of debate. In this study we investigate a method for estimating the halo spin and halo concentration of low surface brightness (LSB), gas-rich dwarf barred galaxy UGC 5288, by forward modelling disk properties derived from observations - stellar and gas surface densities, disk scale length, HI rotation curve, bar length and bar ellipticity. We combine semi-analytical techniques, N-body/SPH and cosmological simulations to model the DM halo of UGC 5288 with both a cuspy Hernquist profile and a flat-core pseudo-isothermal profile. We find that the best match with observations is a pseudo-isothermal halo model with a core radius of $r_{c} = 0.23$ kpc, and halo spin of $λ$= 0.08 at the virial radius. Although our findings are consistent with previous core radius estimates of the halo density profile of UGC 5288, as well as with the halo spin profiles of similar mass analogues of UGC5288 in the high-resolution cosmological-magneto-hydrodynamical simulation TNG50, there still remain some uncertainties as we are limited in our knowledge of the formation history of the galaxy. Additionally, we find that the inner halo spin ($ r< 10$ kpc) in barred galaxies is different from the unbarred ones, and the halo spin shows weak correlations with bar properties.

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arXiv2022

Effects of Inner Halo Angular Momentum on the Peanut/X-shapes of Bars

Cosmological simulations show that dark matter halos surrounding baryonic disks have a wide range of angular momenta, measured by the spin parameter ($λ$). In this study, we bring out the importance of inner angular momentum($<$30 kpc), measured in terms of the halo spin parameter, on the secular evolution of the bar using N-body simulations. We have varied the halo spin parameter $λ$ from 0 to 0.1 for co-rotating (prograde) spinning halos and one counter-rotating (retrograde) halo spin ($λ$=-0.1) with respect to the disk. We report that as the halo spin increases, the buckling is also triggered earlier and is followed by a second buckling phase in high-spin halo models. The timescale for the second buckling is significantly longer than the first buckling. We find that bar strength does not reduce significantly after the buckling in all of our models, which provides new insights about the role of inner halo angular momentum, unlike previous studies. Also, the buckled bar can still transfer significant angular momentum to the halo in the secular evolution phase, but it reduces with increasing halo spin. In the secular evolution phase, the bar strength increases and saturates to nearly equal values for all the models irrespective of halo spin and the sense of rotation with respect to the disk. The final boxy/peanut shape is more pronounced ($\sim$20 $\%$) in high spin halos having higher angular momentum in the inner region compared to non-rotating halos. We explain our results with angular momentum exchanges between the disk and halo.

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arXiv2022

Excitation of vertical breathing motion in disc galaxies by tidally-induced spirals in fly-by interactions

It is now clear that the stars in the Solar neighbourhood display large-scale coherent vertical breathing motions. At the same time, Milky Way-like galaxies experience tidal interactions with satellites/companions during their evolution. While these tidal interactions can excite vertical oscillations, it is still not clear whether vertical breathing motions are excited \textit{directly} by the tidal encounters or are driven by the tidally-induced spirals. We test whether excitation of breathing motions are directly linked to tidal interactions by constructing a set of $N$-body models (with mass ratio 5:1) of unbound, single fly-by interactions with varying orbital configurations. We first reproduce the well-known result that such fly-by interactions can excite strong transient spirals (lasting for $\sim 2.9-4.2$ Gyr) in the outer disc of the host galaxy. The generation and strength of the spirals are shown to vary with the orbital parameters (the angle of interaction, and the orbital spin vector). Furthermore, we demonstrate that our fly-by models exhibit coherent breathing motions whose amplitude increases with height. The amplitudes of breathing motions show characteristic modulation along the azimuthal direction, with compressing breathing motions coinciding with the peaks of the spirals and expanding breathing motions falling in the inter-arm regions -- a signature of a spiral-driven breathing motion. These breathing motions in our models end when the strong tidally-induced spiral arms fade away. Thus, it is the tidally-induced spirals which drive the large-scale breathing motions in our fly-by models, and the dynamical role of the tidal interaction in this context is indirect.

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arXiv2022

Growth of disc-like pseudo-bulges in SDSS DR7 since z = 0.1

Cosmological simulations predict more classical bulges than their observational counterpart in the local Universe. Here, we quantify evolution of the bulges since $z=0.1$ using photometric parameters of nearly 39,000 unbarred disc galaxies from SDSS DR7 which are well represented by two components. We adopted a combination of the Sérsic index and Kormendy relation to separate classical bulges and disc-like pseudo-bulges. We found that the fraction of pseudo-bulges (classical bulges) smoothly increases (decreases) as the Universe gets older. In the history of the Universe, there comes a point ($z \approx 0.016$) when classical bulges and pseudo-bulges become equal in number. The fraction of pseudo-bulges rises with increasing bulge to disc half-light radius ratio until R$_{\rm e}$/R$_{\rm hlr} \approx 0.6$ suggesting concentrated disc is the most favourable place for pseudo-bulge formation. The mean ellipticity of pseudo-bulges is always greater than that of classical bulges and it decreases with decreasing redshift indicating that the bulges tend to be more axisymmetric with evolution. Also, the massive bulges are progressing towards axisymmetry at steeper rate than the low-mass bulges. There is no tight correlation of bulge Sérsic index evolution with other photometric properties of the galaxy. Using the sample of multi-component fitting of $S^4G$ data and $N-$body galaxy models, we have verified that our results are consistent or even more pronounced with multi-component fitting and high-resolution photometry.

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arXiv2021

The Effect of Dark Matter Halo Shape on Bar Buckling and Boxy/Peanut Bulges

It is well established that bars evolve significantly after they form in galaxy discs, often changing shape both in and out of the disc plane. In some cases they may bend or buckle out of the disc plane resulting in the formation of boxy/peanut/x-shape bulges. In this paper we show that the dark matter halo shape affects bar formation and buckling. We have performed N-body simulations of bar buckling in non-spherical dark matter halos and traced bar evolution for 8 Gyr. We find that bar formation is delayed in oblate halos, resulting in delayed buckling whereas bars form earlier in prolate halos leading to earlier buckling. However, the duration of first buckling remains almost comparable. All the models show two buckling events but the most extreme prolate halo exhibits three distinct buckling features. Bars in prolate halos also show buckling signatures for the longest duration compared to spherical and oblate halos. Since ongoing buckling events are rarely observed, our study suggests that most barred galaxies may have more oblate or spherical halos rather than prolate halos. Our measurement of BPX structures also shows that prolate halos promote bar thickening and disc heating more than oblate and spherical halos.

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arXiv2021

Galaxy Flybys: Evolution of the Bulge, Disk, and Spiral Arms

Galaxy flybys are as common as mergers in low redshift universe and are important for galaxy evolution as they involve the exchange of significant amounts of mass and energy. In this study we investigate the effect of minor flybys on the bulges, disks, and spiral arms of Milky Way mass galaxies for two types of bulges - classical bulges and boxy/peanut pseudobulges. Our N-body simulations comprise of two disk galaxies of mass ratios 10:1 and 5:1, where the disks of the galaxies lie in their orbital plane and the pericenter distance is varied. We performed photometric and kinematic bulge-disk decomposition at regular time steps and traced the evolution of the disk size, spiral structure, bulge sersic index, bulge mass, and bulge angular momentum. Our results show that the main effect on the disks is disk thickening, which is seen as the increase in the ratio of disk scale height to scale radius. The strength of the spiral structure A2/A0 shows small oscillations about the mean time-varying amplitude in the pseudobulge host galaxies. The flyby has no significant effect on non-rotating classical bulge, which shows that these bulges are extremely stable in galaxy interactions. However, the pseudobulges become dynamically hotter in flybys indicating that flybys may play an important role in accelerating the rate of secular evolution in disk galaxies. This effect on pseudobulges is a result of their rotating nature as part of the bar. Also, flybys do not affect the time and strength of bar buckling.

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arXiv2020

Testing a theoretical prediction for bar formation in galaxies with bulges

Earlier studies have shown that massive bulges impede bar formation in disk galaxies. Recent N-body simulations have derived a bar formation criterion that depends on the radial bulge force in a galaxy disk. We use those simulations to show that bars can form only when the force constant FB < 0.13, where FB depends on the ratio of the bulge force to the total force of the galaxy at twice the disk scale length 2R d . In this article, we test this theoretical prediction using observational data obtained from the literature. Our sample consists of 63 barred galaxies with a wide range of Hubble classes from the S 4 G catalogue for which bulge, disk and bar decomposition has been done. We find that 92 % of our sample galaxies satisfy the condition FB < 0.13 for bar formation in galaxies and hence agree with the bar formation criterion given by the simulations.

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arXiv2020

Can Bars Erode Cuspy Halos ?

One of the major and widely known small scale problem with the Lambda CDM model of cosmology is the core-cusp problem. In this study we investigate whether this problem can be resolved using bar instabilities. We see that all the initial bars are thin (b/a $<$ 0.3) in our simulations and the bar becomes thick (b/a $>$ 0.3$) faster in the high resolution simulations. By increasing the resolution, we mean a larger number of disk particles. The thicker bars in the high resolution simulations transfer less angular momentum to the halo. Hence, we find that in the high resolution simulations it takes around 7 Gyr for the bar to remove inner dark matter cusp which is too long to be meaningful in galaxy evolution timescales. Physically, the reason is that as the resolution increases, the bar buckles faster and becomes thicker much earlier on.

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