For , the detuning is . The Gaussian resonance broadening factor selects the corotation resonance, where the star's azimuthal frequency matches the pattern speed. The derivative driving the flux is just . In fact this contribution alone has the form
A single Fourier series harmonic changes the action variables in the direction , because plus its conjugate. For this harmonic, : stars change angular momentum and shift their epicyclic guiding center without a leading-order increase of random radial motion. This is stellar radial migration driven by the corotation resonance. The resonance condition explains the absence of leading heating: at the corotation resonance.
Stellar radial migration 2026-10-25
A change in a star's mean orbital radius through exchange of angular momentum, particularly at a corotation resonance with a rotating perturbation. For the harmonic in action-angle variables, the leading change of radial action vanishes even while azimuthal angular momentum changes. Migration can therefore rearrange a galactic disk with much less heating than exchange at a Lindblad resonance.