On the nature of bulges in general and of box/peanut bulges in particular: input from N-body simulations

By E. Athanassoula. 2005

382 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Objects designated as bulges in disc galaxies do not form a homogeneous class. I distinguish three types: the classical bulges, the properties of which are similar to those of ellipticals and which form by collapse or merging; boxy and peanut bulges, which are seen in near-edge-on galaxies and which are in fact just a part of the bar seen edge-on; and, finally, disc-like bulges, which result from the inflow of (mainly) gas to the centre-most parts, and subsequent star formation. I make a detailed comparison of the properties of boxy and peanut bulges with those of N-body bars seen edge-on, and answer previously voiced objections about the links between the two. I also present and analyse simulations where a boxy/peanut feature is present at the same time as a classical spheroidal bulge, and compare them with observations. Finally, I propose a nomenclature that can help to distinguish between the three types of bulges and avoid considerable confusion.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Instrumentation

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/5182377197c6f9e3d506aac1d776ce8bfa3cb508

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In Astronomy and Astrophysics

1. P. Hopkins
2. L. Hernquist
3. Thomas J. Cox
4. R. Somerville
5. Volker Springel
6. R. Dav'e
7. D. Keres̆
8. C. Conroy

In Instrumentation

1. P. Hopkins
2. L. Hernquist
3. Thomas J. Cox
4. O. Gerhard
5. M. Cappellari
6. R. Somerville
7. D. Keres̆
8. J. Kormendy

Citations in the corpus

• A Cosmological Framework for the Co-Evolution of Quasars, Supermassive Black Holes, and Elliptical Galaxies. II. Formation of Red Ellipticals (2007, background): “…(Schwarz 1981; Athanassoula et al. 1983; Pfenniger 1984; Combes et al.1990; Raha et al.1991; Kuijken &Merrifield1995; O’Neill & Dubinski 2003; Athanassoula 2005), with clearly distinct shapes (e.g., flattened or ‘‘peanut-shaped’’ isophotes), rotation properties ( large v/ ), internal…”
• Dark matter direct detection signals inferred from a cosmological N-body simulation with baryons (2009, background): “Dynamical interactions between the baryonic and the dark components of a galaxy are indeed expected to cause non negligible distortions on the phase-space structure of both components [86].”
• A Cosmological Framework for the Co-Evolution of Quasars, Supermassive Black Holes, and Elliptical Galaxies. I. Galaxy Mergers and Quasar Activity (2007, background): “…(Schwarz 1981; Athanassoula et al. 1983; Pfenniger 1984; Combes et al. 1990; Raha et al. 1991; Kuijken & Merrifield 1995; O’Neill & Dubinski 2003; Athanassoula 2005) with clearly distinct shapes (e.g., flattened or ‘‘peanut’’-shaped isophotes), rotation properties ( large v/ ), internal…”
• The population of barred galaxies in the local universe - I. Detection and characterisation of bars (2009, background): “…rotations because of large-scale violent bending instabilities and settle with an increased thickness and vertical velocity dispersion (e.g., Combes & Sanders 1981; Combes et al. 1990; Raha et al. 1991; Athanassoula 2003; Debattista et al. 2004; Athanassoula 2005; Martinez-Valpuesta et al. 2006).”
• BULGE n AND B/T IN HIGH-MASS GALAXIES: CONSTRAINTS ON THE ORIGIN OF BULGES IN HIERARCHICAL MODELS (2008, background): “…to form as a result of gas inflow into the central kiloparsec and subsequent star formation building a compact disky, high v/σ stellar component (Kormendy 1993; Jogee 1999; Kormendy & Kennicutt 2004, hereafter KK04; Jogee, Scoville, & Kenney 2005; Athanassoula 2005; Kormendy & Fisher 2005).”
• Properties of Bars and Bulges in the Hubble Sequence (2007, background): “The estimation of bar length is not trivial (see Athanassoula 2005), but the different bar length estimates (visual inspection, maximum in the ellipticity profile, Fourier phase angle, or the maximum in the force profile) seem to lead to a similar conclusion.”
• The black hole mass–stellar velocity dispersion correlation: bulges versus pseudo-bulges (2008, background): “1 Athanassoula (2005) distinguished three types of bulges: classical bulges, boxy/peanut bugles and discy bulges.”
• The Coevolution of Galaxies and Supermassive Black Holes: Insights from Surveys of the Contemporary Universe (2014, background): “Kormendy & Kennicutt (2004) argued that the consequence of this secular evolution for the inner regions of disk galaxies is the creation of a pseudo-bulge (perhaps more descriptively called a disky bulge by Athanassoula 2005, 2008).”
• Constraining the Milky Way assembly history with Galactic Archaeology (2016, background): “Although there is no guarantee that a model displaying similar final state to that of the Milky Way had the same evolutionary history, taking as a constraint the only phase-space snapshot we have of the Galaxy is a must.”
• Insights on the Milky Way bulge formation from the correlations between kinematics and metallicity (2010, background): “The coexistence of classical and pseudo bulge has been observed in external galaxies (Prugniel et al. 2001; Peletier et al. 2007; Erwin 2008) and obtained by N-body simulations (Samland & Gerhard 2003; Athanassoula 2005).”
• HOW DO DISKS SURVIVE MERGERS? (2008, background): “…Debattista et al. 2004), although the expectation of rotational support and “disky-ness” in the material lead to it more likely being a “pseudo-bulge” typical of secular processes (Combes et al. 1990; Kuijken & Merrifield 1995; O’Neill & Dubinski 2003; Kormendy & Kennicutt 2004; Athanassoula 2005).”
• Bars in Disk-dominated and Bulge-dominated Galaxies at z ~ 0: New Insights from ~3600 SDSS Galaxies (2007, background): “…can trigger starbursts (Elmegreen1994; Knapen et al.1995; Regan & Teuben 2004; Jogee et al. 2005; Sheth et al. 2005) and might contribute to the formation of disky bulges (or ‘‘pseudobulges’’; Kormendy 1993; Kormendy & Kennicutt 2004; Athanassoula 2005; Jogee et al. 2005; Debattista et al. 2006).”
• Galaxy Zoo:bars in disc galaxies (2010, background): “At this point, it is important to recognize the different types of bulges that are observed to be present in disc galaxies (Athanassoula 2005).”
• Characterizing Bars at z ~ 0 in the Optical and NIR: Implications for the Evolution of Barred Disks with Redshift (2006, background): “In several galaxies bar-driven gas inflows appear intimately tied to the formation of disky, high v/ stellar components in the inner kiloparsec, or ‘‘pseudobulges’’ (Kormendy 1993; Jogee 1999; review byKormendy&Kennicutt 2004; Jogee et al. 2005; Athanassoula 2005).”
• ARGOS - III. Stellar populations in the Galactic bulge of the Milky Way (2012, background): “Simulations have shownthat a second buckling episode can occur (Athanassoula 2005b; Martinez-Valpuesta, Shlosman, & Heller 2006), well after the first one, and that it leads to a vertically thicker structure thangiven by the first only buckling event.”
• TWO RED CLUMPS AND THE X-SHAPED MILKY WAY BULGE (2010, background): “Pseudo-bulges and bars are expected to display cylindrical rotation (e.g., Athanassoula 2005), which is consistent with the radial velocity BRAVA survey as noted by Howard et al. (2008, 2009).”
• Evolution of galactic discs: multiple patterns, radial migration, and disc outskirts (2012, background): “Even classical Galaxy analogues, such as NGC 891 exhibit big asymmetries, clearly resolved as gas accreting along a large filament or arm (Mapelli et al., 2008).”