A triaxial model for the bulge of NGC 4697

Abstract

There is now mounting evidence that the intrinsic shape of elliptical galaxies and bulges of disk galaxies may generally be triaxial. There are different signatures of non–axisymmetric structures observed: velocity gradients along the minor axis (e.g. Davies & Birkinshaw 1986), twisting of the isophotes (e.g. Williams & Schwarzschild 1979) and misalignment between bulge and disk major axes (e.g. Bertola, Vietri & Zeilinger 1991). Therefore, a framework of reliable algorithms for the dynamical modelling of such triaxial potentials is needed.