Building Self-Consistent Triaxial Galaxy Models Using Schwarzschild’s Method

We use Schwarzschild’s orbit superposition method to build self-consistent models of elliptical galaxies with scale-free potentials. Our exhaustive study of all physical shapes and central densities for galaxies with scale-free potentials establishes a relationship between the presence of chaos and self-consistency. The extent and the onset of chaos is studied by varying parameters of the model which are believed to be its inducers, such as the steepness of the central density cusp, flatness and triaxiality. We show that gravitational scattering of the central density cusp plays a dominant role in restricting the shapes of elliptical galaxies. Subject headings: celestial mechanics — stellar dynamics — galaxies: kinematics and dynamics — galaxies: elliptical and lenticular, CD