Year: 1999
Type: article
Abstract: Distribution functions (DFs) for dynamically warm thin stellar disks residing in arbitrary axisymmetric potentials are presented, which approximately reproduce predescribed surface density and velocity dispersion profiles. The functional form of the DFs is obtained by "warming up" a model made entirely of circular orbits. This can be done in various ways, giving different functional forms for the DF. In the best case, the DF reproduces the predescribed profiles to within a few percent for a typical case reminiscent of the old stellar disk in the Milky Way. This match may be improved to about 1% or better by a simple iterative method. An algorithm is given to draw phase-space points randomly from the DFs for the purpose of, e.g., N -body simulations. All the relevant computer programs are available from the author.
Source: The Astronomical Journal
DOI: 10.1086/301010
Author: Walter Dehnen
Institutions: University of Oxford, Max Planck Institute for Astronomy
Language: English
Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2012780054