Long lived spiral structures in galaxies

Spiral structure in disk galaxies is modeled with ncollisionless N-body simulations including live disks, halos, and bulges with a range of masses. Two of these simulations make long-lasting and strong two-arm spiral wave modes that last for about 5 Gyr with constant pattern speed. These two had a light stellar disk and the largest values of the Toomre Q parameter in the inner region at the time the spirals formed, suggesting the presence of a Q-barrier to wave propagation resulting from the bulge. The relative bulge mass in these cases is about 10%. Models with weak two-arm spirals had pattern speeds that followed the radial dependence of the Inner Lindblad Resonance. In addition to these, we also report a few more cases where two-armed spirals are developed and are maintained for a several rotation time scales.