Instabilities in a nonstationary model of self-gravitating disks. I. Bar and ring perturbation modes

Abstract

The instabilities of bar and ring mode perturbations against the background of a disk oscillating nonlinearly in its own plane are examined in a disk model which is a nonstationary generalization of the well known Bisnovatyi-Kogan-Zel'dovich model. Nonstationary analogs corresponding to a dispersion relation are found for these two oscillation modes. The results of the calculations are presented in the form of critical dependences of the initial virial ratio on the degree of rotation. A comparative analysis of the growth rates of the gravitational instability for these modes is also carried out. The bar mode instability occurs if the initial total kinetic energy of the disk is no more than 10.4% of the initial potential energy. The mechanism is associated with an instability in the radial motions which is aperiodic for small values of the rotation parameter Ω < 0.1, but is otherwise oscillatory. Calculations show that a ring structure can be formed as a result of an instability in the radial motions if the initial total energy of the model is no more than 5.2% of the initial potential energy, regardless of the value of Ω.