Edge-on boxy profiles in non-barred disc galaxies

Abstract

Boxy edge-on profiles can be accounted for not only in models of barred galaxies, but also in models of normal (non-barred) galaxies. Thus the presence of a bar is not a sine qua non condition for the appearance of this feature, as often assumed. We show that a 'boxy' or a 'peanut' structure in the central parts of a model is due to the presence of vertical resonances at which stable families of periodic orbits bifurcate from the planar x1 family. The orbits of these families reach in their projections on the equatorial plane a maximum distance from the centre, beyond which they increase their mean radii by increasing only their deviations from the equatorial plane. The resulting orbital profiles are 'stair-type' and constitute the backbone for the observed boxy structures in edge-on views of N-body models and, we believe, in edge-on views of disc galaxies. Since the existence of vertical resonances is independent of barred or spiral perturbations in the disc, 'boxy' profiles may appear also in almost axisymmetric cases.