Astronomy Colloquium /Fall 2006

November 15

Dr Victor Debattista

University of Washington

Seattle

Secular Evolution of Galaxies: From Dark Halos to Nuclei

One path by which disk galaxies evolve is via internal secular
evolution. By breaking the symmetry of the system, bars play an
important role in driving such evolution. I describe some recent
results concerning aspects of this evolution relating to dark halos, disk
density profiles, bulges and central nuclei.