galpy.potential.Potential.rtide

Potential.rtide(R, z, phi=0.0, t=0.0, M=None)

NAME:

rtide

PURPOSE:

Calculate the tidal radius for object of mass M assuming a circular orbit as

\[r_t^3 = \frac{GM_s}{\Omega^2-\mathrm{d}^2\Phi/\mathrm{d}r^2}\]

where \(M_s\) is the cluster mass, \(\Omega\) is the circular frequency, and \(\Phi\) is the gravitational potential. For non-spherical potentials, we evaluate \(\Omega^2 = (1/r)(\mathrm{d}\Phi/\mathrm{d}r)\) and evaluate the derivatives at the given position of the cluster.

INPUT:

R - Galactocentric radius (can be Quantity)

z - height (can be Quantity)

phi - azimuth (optional; can be Quantity)

t - time (optional; can be Quantity)

M - (default = None) Mass of object (can be Quantity)

OUTPUT:

Tidal Radius

HISTORY:

2018-03-21 - Written - Webb (UofT)