Global gravitational stability for one-dimensional polytropes

Whitworth, Anthony Peter ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1178-5486 1981. Global gravitational stability for one-dimensional polytropes. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 195 (4) , pp. 967-977. 10.1093/mnras/195.4.967

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Abstract

We investigate the stability and dynamics of an isolated cloud of gas which is contained by external pressure, and which has imposed one-dimensional symmetry, uniform density and polytropic equation of state. The energies of the cloud in its three internally conserved modes are summed to form a potential function controlling radial motions, and the associated Lagrangian is obtained. Families of stable equilibrium states are then derived – where they exist – along with conditions for marginal instability. We show that this simple global model mimics closely the behaviour of clouds in detailed hydrostatic balance (DHB); and we use the global model to discuss the onset of gravitational instability in real clouds, and in particular, to evaluate the role of non-quasistatic compression

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Schools > Physics and Astronomy
Subjects:	Q Science > QB Astronomy
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
ISSN:	00358711
Last Modified:	27 Oct 2022 09:44
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/67559

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