GalPort: Investigation of the bar in action-angle space
Viktor D. Zozulia
astro-ph.GA, astro-ph.IM
Submitted: 2026-07-08
Comments: 18 pages, 7 figures, 1 table, Accepted for publication in Astronomy and Computing
DOI: 10.1016/j.ascom.2026.101163
Code: https://github.com/vdzozulia/galport
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
The gist: GalPort is a Python package for analysing the orbital dynamics of evolving disc galaxy numerical models in action-angle space.
Terminology
Abstract
GalPort is a Python package for analysing the orbital dynamics of evolving disc galaxy numerical models in action-angle space. The package implements novel numerical methods for efficiently estimating actions, angles, and frequencies across different, particle-specific timescales: on the scale of radial or vertical oscillation and on the resonant libration/circulation timescale. The algorithm allows calculation of these dynamic quantities simultaneously at all time steps of the simulated galactic evolution. With this tool, one can trace orbital behaviour within time-varying galactic potentials and classify orbits (resonantly trapped, circulating, or passing through a resonance) based on their angle evolution. GalPort also includes specialised options for analysing the phase-space structure of a galactic bar in the disc plane and along its major axis. We demonstrate the package's performance on a typical N-body model of a barred galaxy, obtaining the global distributions of actions and frequencies and performing a detailed orbital decomposition. The code is publicly available under the MIT license at: https://github.com/vdzozulia/galport
Sources
- Bar formation and destruction in the FIRE-2 simulations
- On the stability of tidal streams in action space
- Orbital support and evolution of flat profiles of bars (shoulders)
- Actions for axisymmetric potentials
- Orbital tori for non-axisymmetric galaxies
- Trapped orbits and solar-neighbourhood kinematics
- Models of our Galaxy II
- Torus mapper: a code for dynamical models of galaxies
- Self-consistent models of our Galaxy
- Chemodynamical models of our Galaxy
- galpy: A Python Library for Galactic Dynamics
- Resonances in Barred Galaxies
- Dynamical friction and feedback on galactic bars in the general fast-slow regime
- Resonance sweeping by a decelerating Galactic bar
- Tree-ring structure of Galactic bar resonance
- Oscillating dynamical friction on galactic bars by trapped dark matter
- Azimuthal metallicity variations, spiral structure, and the failure of radial actions based on assuming axisymmetry
- Box/peanut-shaped bulges in action space
- Radial halo substructure in harmony with the Galactic bar
- Generation of mock tidal streams
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