Can satellite dwarfs excite galactic warps?

Galactic Disk Warps

Tidal Torques and Galactic Warps

We investigate the tilting and warping of galactic disks in response to tidal torquing. The strength of the torque is determined from cosmological N-body simulations. We find the tidal torques to be dominated by substructure in the galactic halo, such as dwarf satellites, and by a misalignment between the disk angular momentum and the figure axes of the dark matter halo. The radial dependence o...

Galactic Warps in Triaxial Halos

We study the behaviors of galactic disks in triaxial halos both numerically and analytically to see if warps can be excited and sustained in triaxial potentials. We consider the following two scenarios: 1) galactic disks that are initially tilted relative to the equatorial plane of the halo (for a pedagogical purpose), and 2) tilted infall of dark matter relative to the equatorial plane of the ...

Galactic warps induced by cosmic infall

Recent ideas for the origin and persistence of the warps commonly observed in disc galaxies have focused on cosmic infall. We present N -body simulations of an idealized form of cosmic infall onto a disc galaxy and obtain a warp that closely resembles those observed. The inner disc tilts remarkably rigidly, indicating strong cohesion due to self-gravity. The line of nodes of the warp inside R26...

Brown Dwarfs as Galactic Chronometers

Brown dwarfs are natural clocks, cooling and dimming over time due to insufficient core fusion. They are also numerous and present in nearly all Galactic environments, making them potentially useful chronometers for a variety of Galactic studies. For this potential to be realized, however, precise and accurate ages for individual sources are required, a prospect made difficult by the complex at...