The orbit structure of galactic potentials is quite complicated. In a typical elliptical galaxy, a bizarre menagerie of orbital types crowd the phase space of stellar motion, with loop orbits, box orbits, fish orbits, resonant orbits, and chaotic orbits all present simultaneously. To make matters even more complicated, the potential of the galaxy itself is generated by the sum total of stars and dark matter in these orbits.
This project is dedicated to mapping out the orbital space of a special type of potential, that of the m=2 singular isothermal disk. This work builds on an ongoing study of the properties of singular isothermal disks.
resources
(1) An extensive set of notes (unpublished but informative) .pdf file here.
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