Abstract
Steady-state solutions for the motion of a passively gravitating globular cluster (GC) inside an inhomogeneous, rotating, ellipsoidal elliptical galaxy (EG) are considered. It is assumed that an EG with a halo is comprised of a triaxial ellipsoid consisting of two layers. The first is formed by an inner, uniform ellipsoid representing the luminous part of the galaxy, while the second corresponds to the space between an inner and outer ellipsoid, which is uniformly filled with dark matter. The triaxial ellipsoids are taken to be homothetic and to have a common center; the space between them is called a homeoid. The outer boundary of the homeoid is the boundary of the galaxy halo. The densities of the luminous part of the EG and the homeoid are different. This picture of an EG is in agreement with our current understanding of galactic structure. The motion of the GC occurs outside the luminous part of the EG, but inside the homeoid, which is treated like a perturbing body. Steady-state solutions (libration points) are found for the GC, and its Lyapunov stability determined. The elliptical galaxies NGC 4472 (M49), NGC 4636, and NGC 4374, which contain a large number of GCs, are used as examples. Analysis of these galaxies shows that the exact expression for the potential of the luminous part of the EG must be used to find the libration points and study their stability, rather than an approximate expression for this potential.
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Original Russian Text © S.A. Gasanov, 2012, published in Astronomicheskii Zhurnal, 2012, Vol. 89, No. 6, pp. 522–536.
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Gasanov, S.A. Steady-state solutions for the motion of a globular cluster in an inhomogeneous, rotating elliptical galaxy. Astron. Rep. 56, 469–482 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1063772912060030
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S1063772912060030