Abstract
The rotation curve of the central region in some disk galaxies shows a linear rise, terminating at a peak (primary peak) which is then followed by a deep minimum. The curve then again rises to another peak at more or less half-way across the galactic radius. This latter peak is considered as ‘the peak’ of the rotation curve in all large-scale analysis of galactic structure. The primary peak is usually ignored for the purpose. In this work an attempt has been made to look at the primary peak as the manifestation of the post-explosion flow pattern of gas in the deep central region of galaxies. Solving hydrodynamical equations of motion, a flow model has been derived which imitates very closely the actually observed linear rotational velocity, followed by the falling branch of the curve to minimum. The theoretical flow model has been compared with observed results for nine galaxies. The agreement obtained is extremely encouraging. The distance of the primary peak from the galactic centre has been shown to be correlated with the angular velocity in the linear part of the rotation curve. Here also, agreement is very good between theoretical and observed results. It is concluded that the distance of the primary peak from the centre not only speaks of the time that has elapsed since the explosion occurred in the nucleus, it also speaks of the potential capability of the nucleus of the galaxy for repeating explosions through some efficient process of mass replenishment at the core.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ambartsumian, V. A.: 1965,The Structure and Evolution of Galaxies, Interscience Publishers, New York, p. 1.
Ambartsumian, V. A.: 1976,Proc. Third European Astron. Meeting, Tbilisi, 1–5 July 1975, p. 91.
Arp, H.: 1967,Astrophys. J. 148, 321.
Arp, H.: 1969,Astron. Astrophys. 3, 418.
Becklin, E. E. and Neugebauer, G.: 1968,Astrophys. J. 151, 145.
Burbidge, G. R., Burbidge, E. M. and Prendergast, K. H.: 1962,Astrophys. J. 136, 339.
Burbidge, G. R., Burbidge, E. M. and Prendergast, K. H.: 1963,Astrophys. J. 138, 375.
Burbidge, G. R., Burbidge, E. M. Crampin, D. J., Rubin, V. C. and Prendergast, K. H.: 1964,Astrophys. J. 139, 1058.
Goad, J. W.: 1976,Astrophys. J. Suppl. 32, 89.
Rougoor, G. M. and Oort, J. H.: 1960,Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. U.S. 46, 1.
Rubin, V. C. and Ford, W. K.: 1970,Astrophys. J. 159, 379.
Rubin, V. C.: 1979, in W. B. Burton (ed.), ‘The Large-Scale Characteristics of the Galaxy’,IAU Symp. 84, 211.
Rubin, V. C., Burbidge, E. M., Burbidge, G. R. and Prendergast, K. H.: 1965,Astrophys. J. 141, 885.
Sanders, R. H., and Wrixon, G. T.: 1973,Astron. Astrophys. 26, 265.
Simkin, S. M.: 1975,Astrophys. J. 195, 293.
Suckmann, J. and Anand, S. P. S.: 1970,Astrophys. J. 162, 105.
Van der Kruit, P. C.: 1970,Astron. Astrophys. 4, 462.
Van der Kruit, P. C.: 1971,Astron. Astrophys. 13, 405.
Zeldovich, Ya. B. and Raizer, Y. P.: 1966,Physics of Shockwaves and High Temperature Hydrodynamic Phenomena, Vol. 1, Academic Press, New York and London, p. 93.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Bhattacharyya, T., Basu, B. A fluid dynamical flow model for the central peak in the rotation curve of disk galaxies. Astrophys Space Sci 73, 395–410 (1980). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00642418
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00642418