Long-lived planetesimal discs (2009)
We investigate the survival of planetesimal discs over Gyr timescales, using a unified approach that is applicable to all Keplerian discs of solid bodies -- dust grains, asteroids, planets, etc....
The Evolution of Wide Binary Stars (2009)
Jiang, Yan-Fei, Tremaine, Scott
We study the orbital evolution of wide binary stars in the solar neighborhood due to gravitational perturbations from passing stars. We include the effects of the Galactic tidal field and continue to...
Gultekin, Kayhan, Richstone, Douglas O., Gebhardt, Karl, Lauer, Tod R., Tremaine, Scott, Aller, M. C., ...
We derive improved versions of the relations between supermassive black hole mass (M_BH) and host-galaxy bulge velocity dispersion (sigma) and luminosity (L) (the M-sigma and M-L relations), based on...
Satellite dynamics on the Laplace surface (2008)
Tremaine, Scott, Touma, Jihad, Namouni, Fathi
The orbital dynamics of most planetary satellites is governed by the quadrupole moment from the equatorial bulge of the host planet and the tidal field from the Sun. On the Laplace surface, the...
A Stellar Dynamical Measurement of the Black Hole Mass in the Maser Galaxy NGC 4258 (2008)
Siopis, Christos, Gebhardt, Karl, Lauer, Tod R., Kormendy, John, Pinkney, Jason, Richstone, Douglas, ...
We determine the mass of the black hole at the center of the spiral galaxy NGC 4258 by constructing axisymmetric dynamical models of the galaxy. These models are constrained by high spatial...
Stability of Distant Satellites of Giant Planets in the Solar System (2008)
We conduct a systematic survey of the regions in which distant satellites can orbit stably around the four giant planets in the solar system, using orbital integrations of up to $10^9$ yr. In...
Dynamics of WIMPs in the solar system and implications for direct and indirect detection (2008)
Peter, Annika H. G., Tremaine, Scott
Semi-analytic treatments of the evolution of orbits of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) in the solar system suggest that the WIMPs bound to the solar system may enhance the direct...
Dynamics of Warped Galaxies (2008)
Robert W. Nelson, Scott Tremaine, Trema I Ne
Introduction The HI gas in the outer regions of spiral galaxies commonly rises above and below the inner galactic plane in characteristic `integral sign' warps. Such bending distortions were...
Axisymmetric, 3-Integral Models of Galaxies: A Massive Black Hole in NGC 3379 (2007)
Karl Gebhardt, Douglas Richstone, John Kormendy, Tod R. Lauer, Edward A. Ajhar, Ralf Bender, ...
We fit axisymmetric, 3-integral dynamical models to NGC 3379 using HST/FOS spectra of the galaxy center and ground-based long-slit spectroscopy along four position angles, with the light distribution...
Resonant Relaxation in Stellar Systems (2007)
We demonstrate the existence of an enhanced rate of angular momentum relaxation in nearly Keplerian star clusters, such as those found in the centers of galactic nuclei containing massive black...
Robert W. Nelson, Scott Tremaine
We apply linear response theory to a general, inhomogeneous, stationary stellar system, with particular emphasis on dissipative processes analogous to Landau damping. Assuming only that the response...
Serge Tabachnik, Scott Tremaine, For M
method for estimating the mass and period distributions
Simple ‘‘solar systems’ ’ are generated with planetary orbital radii r distributed uniformly random in log r between 0.2 and 50 AU, with masses and order identical to our own Solar System. A...
The Black Hole Mass and Extreme Orbital Structure in NGC1399 (2007)
Gebhardt, Karl, Lauer, Tod R., Pinkney, Jason, Bender, Ralf, Richstone, Douglas, Aller, Monique, ...
The largest galaxies, and in particular central galaxies in clusters, offer unique insight into understanding the mechanism for the growth of nuclear black holes. We present Hubble Space Telescope...
Shrinking binary and planetary orbits by Kozai cycles with tidal friction (2007)
Fabrycky, Daniel, Tremaine, Scott
At least two arguments suggest that the orbits of a large fraction of binary stars and extrasolar planets shrank by 1-2 orders of magnitude after formation: (i) the physical radius of a star shrinks...
Lauer, Tod R., Tremaine, Scott, Richstone, Douglas, Faber, S. M.
Programs to observe evolution in the Mbh-sigma or Mbh-L relations typically compare black-hole masses, Mbh, in high-redshift galaxies selected by nuclear activity to Mbh in local galaxies selected by...
The Centers of Early-Type Galaxies with HST. VI. Bimodal Central Surface Brightness Profiles (2006)
Lauer, Tod R., Gebhardt, Karl, Faber, S. M., Richstone, Douglas, Tremaine, Scott, Kormendy, John, ...
We combine the results from several HST investigations of the central structure of early-type galaxies to generate a large sample of parameterized surface photometry. The studies included were those...
Lauer, Tod R., Faber, S. M., Richstone, Douglas, Gebhardt, Karl, Tremaine, Scott, Postman, Marc, ...
Black hole masses predicted from the Mbh-sigma relationship conflict with those predicted from the Mbh-L relationship for the most luminous galaxies, such as brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs). This...
Deriving the mass distribution of M87 from globular clusters (2005)
We describe a maximum-likelihood method for determining the mass distribution in spherical stellar systems from the radial velocities of a population of discrete test particles. The method assumes a...
Constraints on the acceleration of the solar system from high-precision timing (2005)
Zakamska, Nadia L., Tremaine, Scott
Many astronomers have speculated that the solar system contains undiscovered massive planets or a distant stellar companion. The acceleration of the solar system barycenter can constrain the mass and...
Secular stability and instability in stellar systems surrounding massive objects (2004)
We examine the stability of a low-mass stellar system surrounding a massive central object. Examples of such systems include the centers of galaxies or star clusters containing a massive black hole,...
The Centers of Early-Type Galaxies with HST. V. New WFPC2 Photometry (2004)
Lauer, Tod R., Faber, S. M., Gebhardt, Karl, Richstone, Douglas, Tremaine, Scott, Ajhar, Edward A., ...
We analyze HST+WFPC2 images of 77 early-type galaxies. Brightness profiles are classed into "core" or "power-law" forms. Cores are typically rounder than power-law galaxies. Nearly all power-laws...
Excitation and Propagation of Eccentricity Disturbances in Planetary Systems (2004)
Zakamska, Nadia L., Tremaine, Scott
The high eccentricities of the known extrasolar planets remain largely unexplained. We explore the possibility that eccentricities are excited in the outer parts of an extended planetary disk by...
Black Hole Mass Determinations From Orbit Superposition Models are Reliable (2004)
Richstone, Douglas, Gebhardt, Karl, Aller, Monique, Bender, Ralf, Bower, Gary, Dressler, Alan, ...
We show that orbit-superposition dynamical models (Schwarzschild's method) provide reliable estimates of nuclear black hole masses and errors when constructed from adequate orbit libraries and...
Extrasolar Planet Orbits and Eccentricities (2003)
Tremaine, Scott, Zakamska, Nadia L.
The known extrasolar planets exhibit many interesting and surprising features--extremely short-period orbits, high-eccentricity orbits, mean-motion and secular resonances, etc.--and have dramatically...
The stellar velocity distribution in the solar neighbourhood (2003)
De Simone, Richard S., Wu, Xiaoan, Tremaine, Scott
We explore the heating of the velocity distribution in the solar neighbourhood by stochastic spiral waves. Our investigation is based on direct numerical integration of initially circular...
Ejection of hypervelocity stars by the (binary) black hole(s) in the Galactic center (2003)
We study three processes that eject hypervelocity (>10^3 km/s) stars from the Galactic center: (i) close encounters of two single stars; (ii) tidal breakup of binary stars by the central black hole,...
Eccentric-disk models for the nucleus of M31 (2003)
Peiris, Hiranya V., Tremaine, Scott
We construct dynamical models of the ``double'' nucleus of M31 in which the nucleus consists of an eccentric disk of stars orbiting a central black hole. The principal approximation in these models...
Kinematics of Ten Early-Type Galaxies from HST and Ground-Based Spectroscopy (2003)
Pinkney, Jason, Gebhardt, Karl, Bender, Ralf, Bower, Gary, Dressler, Alan, Faber, S. M., ...
We present stellar kinematics for a sample of 10 early-type galaxies observed using the STIS aboard the Hubble Space Telescope, and the Modular Spectrograph on the MDM Observatory 2.4-m telescope....
Planet finding prospects for the Space Interferometry Mission (2003)
Ford, Eric B., Tremaine, Scott
The Space Interferometry Mission (SIM) will make precise astrometric measurements that can be used to detect planets around nearby stars. We have simulated SIM observations and estimated the ability...
Axisymmetric Dynamical Models Of The Central Regions Of Galaxies (2003)
Karl Gebhardt, Douglas Richstone, Scott Tremaine, Tod R. Lauer, Ralf Bender, Alan Dressler, ...
We present axisymmetric, orbit superposition models for 12 galaxies using data taken with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and ground-based observatories. In each galaxy, we detect a central black...
On the origin of irregular structure in Saturn's rings (2002)
We suggest that the irregular structure in Saturn's B ring arises from the formation of shear-free ring-particle assemblies of up to ~100 km in radial extent. The characteristic scale of the...
Axisymmetric Dynamical Models of the Central Regions of Galaxies (2002)
Gebhardt, Karl, Richstone, Douglas, Tremaine, Scott, Lauer, Tod R., Bender, Ralf, Bower, Gary, ...
We present axisymmetric, orbit superposition models for 12 galaxies using data taken with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and ground-based observatories. In each galaxy, we detect a central black...
Galaxies with a Central Minimum in Stellar Luminosity Density (2002)
Lauer, Tod R., Gebhardt, Karl, Richstone, Douglas, Tremaine, Scott, Bender, Ralf, Bower, Gary, ...
We used HST WFPC2 images to identify six early-type galaxies with surface- brightness profiles that decrease inward over a limited range of radii near their centers. The implied luminosity density...
The slope of the black-hole mass versus velocity dispersion correlation (2002)
Tremaine, Scott, Gebhardt, Karl, Bender, Ralf, Bower, Gary, Dressler, Alan, Faber, S. M., ...
Observations of nearby galaxies reveal a strong correlation between the mass of the central dark object M and the velocity dispersion sigma of the host galaxy, of the form log(M/M_sun) = a +...
Observational constraints on growth of massive black holes (2002)
We study the observational constraints on the growth of massive black holes (BHs) in galactic nuclei. We use the velocity dispersions of early-type galaxies obtained by the SDSS and the relation...
Tod Lauer National, Tod R. Lauer, Karl Gebhardt, Scott Tremaine, Ralf Bender, Gary Bower, ...
We used Hubble Space Telescope WFPC2 images to identify six early-type galaxies with surface-brightness profiles that decrease inward over a limited range of radii near their centers. The implied...
The Slope of the Black-Hole Mass versus Velocity Dispersion Correlation (2002)
Scott Tremaine, Karl Gebhardt, Ralf Bender, Gary Bower, Alan Dressler, S. M. Faber, ...
Observations of nearby galaxies reveal a strong correlation between the mass of the central dark object M . and the velocity dispersion # of the host galaxy, of the form log(M . /M# ) = # + # log(#/#...
Tabachnik, Serge, Tremaine, Scott
We investigate the distribution of mass M and orbital period P of extra-solar planets, taking account of selection effects due to the limited velocity precision and duration of existing surveys. We...
Canonical elements for collision orbits (2000)
I derive a set of canonical elements that are useful for collision orbits (perihelion distance approaching zero at fixed semimajor axis). The coordinates are the mean anomaly and the two spherical...
Slow modes in Keplerian disks (2000)
Low-mass disks orbiting a massive body can support "slow" normal modes, in which the eigenfrequency is much less than the orbital frequency. Slow modes are lopsided, i.e., the azimuthal wavenumber...
Resonant capture by inward migrating planets (2000)
We investigate resonant capture of small bodies by planets that migrate inwards, using analytic arguments and three-body integrations. If the orbits of the planet and the small body are initially...
Black Hole Mass Estimates from Reverberation Mapping and from Spatially Resolved Kinematics (2000)
Gebhardt, Karl, Kormendy, John, Ho, Luis, Bender, Ralf, Bower, Gary, Dressler, Alan, ...
Black hole (BH) masses that have been measured by reverberation mapping in active galaxies fall significantly below the correlation between bulge luminosity and BH mass determined from spatially...
A Relationship Between Nuclear Black Hole Mass and Galaxy Velocity Dispersion (2000)
Gebhardt, Karl, Bender, Ralf, Bower, Gary, Dressler, Alan, Faber, S. M., Filippenko, Alexei V., ...
We describe a correlation between the mass M_BH of a galaxy's central black hole and the luminosity-weighted line-of-sight velocity dispersion sigma_e within the half-light radius. The result is...
Resonant capture, counter-rotating disks, and polar rings (2000)
We suggest that polar rings and/or counter-rotating disks in flattened galaxies can be formed from stars captured at the Binney resonance, where the rate of precession of the angular momentum vector...
Axisymmetric, 3-Integral Models of Galaxies: A Massive Black Hole in NGC3379 (1999)
Gebhardt, Karl, Richstone, Douglas, Kormendy, John, Lauer, Tod, Ajhar, Edward, Bender, Ralf, ...
We fit axisymmetric 3-integral dynamical models to NGC3379 using the line-of-sight velocity distribution obtained from HST/FOS spectra of the galaxy center and ground-based long-slit spectroscopy...
Linear multistep methods for integrating reversible differential equations (1999)
This paper studies multistep methods for the integration of reversible dynamical systems, with particular emphasis on the planar Kepler problem. It has previously been shown by Cano & Sanz-Serna that...
A class of symplectic integrators with adaptive timestep for separable Hamiltonian systems (1999)
Preto, Miguel, Tremaine, Scott
Symplectic integration algorithms are well-suited for long-term integrations of Hamiltonian systems because they preserve the geometric structure of the Hamiltonian flow. However, this desirable...
The dynamics of Plutinos (1999)
Plutinos are Kuiper-belt objects that share the 3:2 Neptune resonance with Pluto. The long-term stability of Plutino orbits depends on their eccentricity. Plutinos with eccentricities close to Pluto...
Rates of tidal disruption of stars by massive central black holes (1999)
Magorrian, John, Tremaine, Scott
There is strong evidence for some kind of massive dark object in the centres of many galaxy bulges. The detection of flares from tidally disrupted stars could confirm that these objects are black...
The Keplerian map for the restricted three-body problem as a model of comet evolution (1998)
Malyshkin, Leonid, Tremaine, Scott
We examine the evolution of highly eccentric, planet-crossing orbits in the restricted three-body problem (Sun, planet, comet). We construct a simple Keplerian map in which the comet energy changes...
Resonant relaxation in protoplanetary disks (1998)
Resonant relaxation is a novel form of two-body relaxation that arises in nearly Keplerian disks such as protoplanetary disks. Resonant relaxation does not affect the semimajor axes of the particles,...
Resonant Thickening of Disks by Small Satellite Galaxies (1998)
Sellwood, J. A., Nelson, Robert W., Tremaine, Scott
We study the vertical heating and thickening of galaxy disks due to accretion of small satellites. Our simulations are restricted to axial symmetry, which largely eliminates numerical evolution of...
Murray, Norm, Hansen, Brad, Holman, Matt, Tremaine, Scott
A planet orbiting in a disk of planetesimals can experience an instability in which it migrates to smaller orbital radii. Resonant interactions between the planet and planetesimals remove angular...
1. PERSONNEL During the reporting year the research staff consisted of (1998)
Neta Bahcall, Renyue Cen, Bruce Draine, Edward Fitzpatrick, Jeremy Goodman, J. Richard Gott, ...
This report provides a summary and bibliography for the research activities at the Princeton University Observatory and Department of Astrophysical Sciences during the period July 1, 1997 to June 30,...
Fitting random stable solar systems to Titius-Bode laws (1997)
Simple ``solar systems'' are generated with planetary orbital radii r distributed uniformly random in log(r) between 0.2 and 50 AU. A conservative stability criterion is imposed by requiring that...
Linear response of galactic halos to adiabatic gravitational perturbations (1997)
Murali, Chigurupati, Tremaine, Scott
We determine the response of a self-similar isothermal stellar system to small adiabatic gravitational perturbations. For odd spherical harmonics, the response is identical to the response of the...
The Demography of Massive Dark Objects in Galaxy Centres (1997)
Magorrian, John, Tremaine, Scott, Richstone, Douglas, Bender, Ralf, Bower, Gary, Dressler, Alan, ...
We construct dynamical models for a sample of 36 nearby galaxies with Hubble Space Telescope photometry and ground-based kinematics. The models assume that each galaxy is axisymmetric, with a...
Nelson, Robert W., Tremaine, Scott
We apply linear response theory to a general, inhomogeneous, stationary stellar system, with particular emphasis on dissipative processes analogous to Landau damping. Assuming only that the response...
The Evolution of Long-Period Comets (1997)
Wiegert, Paul, Tremaine, Scott
We study the evolution of long-period comets by numerical integration of their orbits, following comets from their origin in the Oort cloud until their final escape or destruction, in a model solar...
Spectroscopic Evidence for a Supermassive Black Hole in NGC 4486B (1997)
Kormendy, John, Bender, Ralf, Magorrian, John, Tremaine, Scott, Gebhardt, Karl, Richstone, Douglas, ...
The stellar kinematics of the dwarf elliptical galaxy NGC 4486B have been measured in seeing sigma_* = .22 arcsec with the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope. Lauer et al. 1996, ApJ, 471, L79 have shown...
Fitting random stable solar systems to Titius-Bode laws (1997)
Simple "solar systems" are generated with planetary orbital radii r distributed uniformly random in log r between 0.2 and 50 AU. A conservative stability criterion is imposed by requiring...
A Parallel Integration Method for Solar System Dynamics (1997)
Prasenjit Saha, Mount Stromlo, Siding Spring Observatories, Joachim Stadel, Scott Tremaine
: We describe how long-term solar system orbit integration could be implemented on a parallel computer. The interesting feature of our algorithm is that each processor is assigned not to a planet or...
A Parallel Integration Method for Solar System Dynamics (1997)
Prasenjit Saha, Joachim Stadel, Scott Tremaine
: We describe how long-term solar system orbit integration could be implemented on a parallel computer. The interesting feature of our algorithm is that each processor is assigned not to a planet or...
The Centers of Early-Type Galaxies with HST. IV. Central Parameter Relations (1996)
Faber, S. M., Tremaine, Scott, Ajhar, Edward A., Byun, Yong-Ik, Dressler, Alan, Gebhardt, Karl, ...
We analyze Hubble Space Telescope surface-brightness profiles of 61 elliptical galaxies and spiral bulges (hot galaxies). Luminous hot galaxies have cuspy cores with steep outer power-law profiles...
A parallel integration method for solar system dynamics (1996)
Saha, Prasenjit, Stadel, Joachim, Tremaine, Scott
We describe how long-term solar system orbit integration could be implemented on a parallel computer. The interesting feature of our algorithm is that each processor is assigned not to a planet or a...
Gebhardt, Karl, Richstone, Douglas, Ajhar, Edward, Lauer, Tod, Byun, Yong-Ik, Kormendy, John, ...
We have non-parametrically determined the luminosity density profiles and their logarithmic slopes for 42 early-type galaxies observed with HST. Assuming that the isodensity contours are spheroidal,...
Resonant Relaxation in Stellar Systems (1996)
Rauch, Kevin P., Tremaine, Scott
We demonstrate the existence of an enhanced rate of angular momentum relaxation in nearly Keplerian star clusters, such as those found in the centers of galactic nuclei containing massive black...
Non-axisymmetric, scale-free, razor-thin discs (1996)
Galaxies exhibit a variety of non-axisymmetric structure (bars, spiral structure, lopsided structure, etc.). These suggest the following general problem: what are the possible stationary...
The Dynamics of Galactic Warps (1995)
Nelson, Robert W., Tremaine, Scott
Large-scale warps in the outer parts of spiral galaxy discs have been observed for almost forty years, but their origin remains obscure. We review the dynamics of warped galaxy discs. We identify...
An Eccentric Disk Model for the Nucleus of M31 (1995)
The nucleus of M31 may be a thick eccentric disk, composed of stars traveling on nearly Keplerian orbits around a black hole or other dark compact object. This hypothesis reproduces most of the...
The Damping and Excitation of Galactic Warps by Dynamical Friction (1994)
Nelson, Robert W., Tremaine, Scott
We investigate the dynamical interaction of galactic warps with the surrounding dark matter halo, using analytic perturbation theory. A precessing warp induces a density wake in the collisionless...
Long-term planetary integration with individual time steps (1994)
Saha, Prasenjit, Tremaine, Scott
We describe an algorithm for long-term planetary orbit integrations, including the dominant post-Newtonian effects, that employs individual timesteps for each planet. The algorithm is symplectic and...