Instability of the cored barotropic disc: the linear eigenvalue formulation. Issue 3 (29th May 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Polyachenko, E V
• Is Part Of: Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. Volume 478:Issue 3(2018)
• Page Start: 4268
• Page End: 4275
• Publication Date: 2018-05-29
• Subjects: galaxies:fomation -- galaxies:kinematics and dynamics -- galaxies:spiral; Astronomy -- Periodicals; Periodicals; 520.5
• DOI: 10.1093/mnras/sty1402
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0035-8711

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Gaseous rotating razor-thin discs are a testing ground for theories of spiral structure that try to explain appearance and diversity of disc galaxy patterns. These patterns are believed to arise spontaneously under the action of gravitational instability, but calculations of its characteristics in the gas are mostly obscured. The paper suggests a new method for finding the spiral patterns based on an expansion of small amplitude perturbations over Lagrange polynomials in small radial elements. The final matrix equation is extracted from the original hydrodynamical equations without the use of an approximate theory and has a form of the linear algebraic eigenvalue problem. The method is applied to a galactic model with the cored exponential density profile.