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Exploring the origin, the nature, and the dynamical behavior of distant stars in galaxy models

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Abstract

We explore the regular or chaotic nature of orbits moving in the meridional plane of an axially symmetric galactic gravitational model with a disk, a dense spherical nucleus, and some additional perturbing terms corresponding to influence from nearby galaxies. In order to obtain this, we use the Smaller ALingment Index (SALI) technique integrating extensive samples of orbits. Of particular interest is the study of distant, remote stars moving in large galactocentric orbits. Our extensive numerical experiments indicate that the majority of the distant stars perform chaotic orbits. However, there are also distant stars displaying regular motion as well. Most distant stars are ejected into the galactic halo on approaching the dense and massive nucleus. We study the influence of some important parameters of the dynamical system, such as the mass of the nucleus and the angular momentum, by computing in each case the percentage of regular and chaotic orbits. A second-order polynomial relationship connects the mass of the nucleus and the critical angular momentum of the distant star. Some heuristic semi-theoretical arguments to explain and justify the numerically derived outcomes are also given. Our numerical calculations suggest that the majority of distant stars spend their orbital time in the halo where it is easy to be observed. We present evidence that the main cause for driving stars to distant orbits is the presence of the dense nucleus combined with the perturbation caused by nearby galaxies. The origin of young O and B stars observed in the halo is also discussed.

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Acknowledgements

I would like to express my warmest thanks to the two anonymous referees for the careful reading of the manuscript and for all the aptly suggestions and comments, which improved both the quality and the clarity of the paper.

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  1. Department of Physics, School of Science, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 541 42, Thessaloniki, Greece

    Euaggelos E. Zotos

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Zotos, E.E. Exploring the origin, the nature, and the dynamical behavior of distant stars in galaxy models. Nonlinear Dyn 74, 831–847 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11071-013-1008-3

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