galpy.potential.Potential.surfdens

Potential.surfdens(R, z, phi=0.0, t=0.0, forcepoisson=False)[source]

Evaluate the surface density Sigma(R,z,phi,t) = int_{-z}^{+z} dz’ rho(R,z’,phi,t).

Parameters:
  • R (float or Quantity) – Cylindrical Galactocentric radius.

  • z (float or Quantity) – Vertical height.

  • phi (float or Quantity, optional) – Azimuth (default: 0.0).

  • t (float or Quantity, optional) – Time (default: 0.0).

  • forcepoisson (bool, optional) – If True, calculate the surface density through the Poisson equation, even if an explicit expression for the surface density exists (default: False).

Returns:

Sigma(R,z,phi,t).

Return type:

float or Quantity

Notes

  • 2018-08-19 - Written - Bovy (UofT)

  • 2021-04-19 - Adjusted for non-z-symmetric densities - Bovy (UofT)