Hydrodynamical simulations of the barred spiral galaxy NGC 6782

Abstract

NGC 6782 is an early-type barred spiral galaxy exhibiting a rich and complex morphology with multiple ring patterns. To provide a physical understanding of its structure and kinematical properties, two-dimensional hydrodynamical simulations have been carried out. Numerical calculations reveal that the striking features in NGC 6782 can be reproduced provided that the gas flow is governed by the gravitational potential associated with a slowly rotating strong bar. In particular, the response of the gaseous disk to the bar potential leads to the excitation of spiral density waves at the inner Lindblad resonance, giving rise to the appearance of a nearly circular nuclear ring with a pair of dust lanes. For a sufficiently strong bar potential, the inner 4 : 1 spiral density waves are also excited. The interaction of the higher harmonic waves with the waves excited at the inner Lindblad resonance and confined by the outer Lindblad resonance results in the observed diamond-shaped ( or pointy oval) inner ring structure. The overall gas morphology and kinematical features are both well reproduced by the model, provided that the pattern speed of the bar is similar to 25 km s(-1) kpc(-1).