Abstract
The tidal force effects of a spherical galaxy passing head-on through a disk galaxy have been studied for various orientations of the disk galaxy with respect to the direction of relative motion of the two galaxies. The density distribution of the spherical galaxy is taken to be that of a polytrope of indexn=4 and that of the disk galaxy is taken to be, σ(r)=σce−4r/R, where σc is the central density andR the radius of the disk. It is found that the disruptive effects due to the tidal force are minimum when the plane of the disk lies along the direction of relative motion, but are maximum when the plane of the disk is slightly inclined to this direction (about 15°). The tidal force effects at the median radius have also been computed. The tadal force effects are much higher in the interior region of the disk.
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Chatterjee, T.K., Ahmed, F. Tidal disruption of a disk galaxy. Astrophys Space Sci 75, 501–509 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00648658
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00648658