In article , Martin Brown
writes:
Is the NET angular momentum of an elliptical galaxy and or the
central bulge of a spiral, zero or close to zero..........oblate
spheroids might have a net angular momentum if the oblate geometry
is due to rotation in a single direction.
[[Mod. note -- I think the answers are Yes (or very close to zero),
Yes, and Yes (respectively). -- jt]]
Indeed.
A reasonable treatment of the evolution of gravitationally bound
clusters of stars is online at Caltech minus a few diagrams:
http://www.astro.caltech.edu/~george...y20-Lec15x.pdf
I'm no expert in this field, but I think that it might be a bit more
complicated. Look up "fast rotator" and "slow rotator" in the context
of elliptical galaxies. This might be a place to start:
http://www-astro.physics.ox.ac.uk/~b...rly-types.html