Open Source Content Management

The S4G project produces images from which one can derive stellar mass maps, which in turn can be converted into maps of the gravitational potential of the disk. Such maps are of interest for a  number of dynamical problems which will be the subject of the thesis work. These problems include 1) calculating detailed models of the gas flow in suitable barred galaxies using a hydrodynamic code, and comparing these with detailed photometric and kinematical observations, 2) evaluating the strength, shapes and other properties of bars and spirals, so as to quantify the dynamical properties of galaxies on the Hubble sequence, and 3) analysing the orbital structure in galaxies, and testing a new theory of spiral and ring formation in barred spirals, based on the properties of preferred orbital paths in barred galaxy potentials.