Explicit Second Partial Derivatives of the Ferrers Potential

Abstract

One of the algebraic potentials most commonly used to represent a galactic bar in the stellar orbits integration is the Ferrers potential. Some researchers may be inclined to implement a numerical differentiation for it in the motion or variational equations, since it can be very laborious to calculate such derivatives algebraically, despite a possible polynomial form, and there are no publications showing the second partial explicit derivatives. The purpose of this work is to present the explicit algebraic form of the partial derivatives of the Ferrers potential using the simplifications suggested by Pfenniger.

Keywords

• galactic dynamics
• galaxies barred
• orbits integration
• gravitational potential