Evolution of galaxies in triaxial halos with figure rotation

Firstly, we demonstrate that unusually large outer HI spiral arms observed in NGC 2915 can form in an extended gas disk embedded in a massive triaxial dark matter halo with slow figure rotation, through the strong gravitational torque of the rotating halo. Secondly, we show that the figure rotation of a triaxial dark matter halo can influence dynamical evolution of disk galaxies by using fully self-consistent numerical simulations. We particularly describe the formation processes of ``halo-triggered'' bars in thin galactic disks dominated by dark matter halos with figure rotation and discuss the origin of stellar bars in low luminosity, low surface brightness (LSB) disk galaxies. Thirdly, we provide several implications of the present numerical results in terms of triggering mechanism of starbursts in galaxies and stellar bar formation in high redshifts.

K. Bekki, K. C. Freeman · 2003