Secular evolution in elliptical galaxies
Abstract
Recent qualitative analysis of the evolution of a conservative N-body dynamical system from one side and the study of the stochastic orbits in realistic galactic potentials on the other give the prediction of a collective relaxation time-scale of the same order of magnitude and several orders of magnitudes shorter than the standard binary relaxation time. Here is presented a study of the applicability of these theories to elliptical galaxies, examining a sample of 25 well-studied objects with quite complete morphological and kinematical data. The correlation between the relaxation time-scales and the parameter (V_m_/<σ>)^*^, giving the information on the relative importance of rotation and random velocity anisotropy, supports the possibility of secular evolution in a fraction of elliptical galaxies.
- Publication:
-
Astronomy and Astrophysics
- Pub Date:
- June 1992
- Bibcode:
- 1992A&A...259..473P
- Keywords:
-
- Elliptical Galaxies;
- Galactic Evolution;
- Interacting Galaxies;
- Kinematics;
- Morphology;
- Computational Astrophysics;
- Digital Simulation;
- Hubble Constant;
- Many Body Problem;
- Astrophysics