Self-consistent models for galactic halos

Richstone has pioneered the use of the scale-free logarithmic potential for the study of the dynamics of galactic halos. Now modern computers make it practical to exploit that potential in its exact form without central softening. The orbital structure of the potential, which differs significantly from that of the separable Stackel potentials, has been explored systematically with the help of 2-D start spaces. Six triaxial nonrotating density models representative of various axis ratios have been selected. For each model 600 orbits have been integrated over a time interval equivalent to about 55 orbital periods, or 1 Hubble time