Invisible spiral arms in Milky Way-like galaxies

IF 12.9 1区物理与天体物理 Q1 ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS

Nature Astronomy Pub Date : 2025-06-19 DOI:10.1038/s41550-025-02598-4

Bokyoung Kim

引用次数: 0

Abstract

Stellar structures and the dark matter (DM) halo of galaxies are dynamically intertwined. However, the impact of stellar spiral arms on the DM halo morphology remains little explored. Marcel Bernet and colleagues address this deficiency by investigating the imprint of stellar spirals on the DM halo of a Milky Way-like galaxy, revealing the presence of dark spiral arms.

Using an N-body model of an isolated barred spiral galaxy, the authors find that both stellar and DM spiral arms co-evolve, showing strong spatial and temporal correlation. The total mass of the dark spirals is ~10% of that of the stellar arms. Once both spirals become strong enough (t ≥ 4.5 Gyr), they share a constant pattern speed (~20 km s^–1 kpc^–1), and the DM spirals continuously trail the stellar ones due to a delayed response to the evolving potential of the stellar components.

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银河系状星系中看不见的旋臂

恒星结构和星系的暗物质（DM）晕动态地交织在一起。然而，恒星旋臂对DM光晕形态的影响仍然很少被探索。Marcel Bernet和他的同事通过研究一个类似银河系的星系的DM光晕上的恒星螺旋印记来解决这一缺陷，揭示了黑暗螺旋臂的存在。利用孤立棒旋星系的n体模型，作者发现恒星旋臂和DM旋臂共同演化，表现出强烈的时空相关性。暗螺旋的总质量约为星臂质量的10%。一旦两个螺旋变得足够强大（t≥4.5 Gyr），它们共享一个恒定的模式速度（~20 km s-1 kpc-1），由于对恒星成分演化潜力的延迟响应，DM螺旋不断落后于恒星螺旋。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Nature Astronomy Physics and Astronomy-Astronomy and Astrophysics

CiteScore

19.50

自引率

2.80%

发文量

252

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