Regular and chaotic motion in galactic satellites

J. C. MUZZIO; D. D. CARPINTERO; F. C. WACHLIN

Roma

Congreso; The Chaotic Universe: Second ICRA Network Workshop; 1999

International Center for Relativistic Astrophysics (ICRA, Italia)

We have shown before that chaotic stellar motion should be present in galactic satellites. Here we extend our study to satellites modelled according to the Heggie-Ramamani recipe which has the advantage of providing a distribution function. We are thus able to determine the fraction of chaotic orbis, which turns out to be very high (23% - 65%, depending on the model). Most of the regular orbits are short-axis tubes, while box orbits make up less than 10% of the total. A tentative scenario is described to explain the relationships between chaoticity and orbital energy.