Title: The secular instability of axisymmetric collisionless star clusters
Abstract: view Abstract Citations (17) References (16) Co-Reads Similar Papers Volume Content Graphics Metrics Export Citation NASA/ADS The Secular Instability of Axisymmetric Collisionless Star Clusters Kandrup, Henry E. Abstract This paper uses recently developed Hamiltonian techniques to investigate the stability of an axisymmetric, collisionless equilibrium, characterized by a distribution function f0(E, Jz, m) depending on both the particle energy E and azimuthal angular momentum Jz, as well as the particle mass m. The conserved total energy epsilon associated with a phase-preserving linear perturbation (delta) f is constructed, and it is shown that, generically, epsilon is not positive definite. It follows that, in the same sense as is true for rotating axisymmetric perfect fluid stars, 'generic' rotating axisymmetric equilibria f0(E, Jz, m) are unstable or at least marginally unstable in the presence of dissipation. Publication: The Astrophysical Journal Pub Date: October 1991 DOI: 10.1086/170608 Bibcode: 1991ApJ...380..511K Keywords: Computational Astrophysics; Gravitational Waves; Secular Variations; Star Clusters; Distribution Functions; Perturbation Theory; Astrophysics; GRAVITATION; INSTABILITIES; STARS: STELLAR DYNAMICS full text sources ADS |