Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics – Galaxy Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2009-11-25
Astrophys.Space Sci.331:575-595,2011
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
Galaxy Astrophysics
Revised version, 28 pages, 10 figures, Accepted for publication in Astrophysics & Space Science
Scientific paper
10.1007/s10509-010-0482-z
Dynamical friction arises from the interaction of a perturber and the gravitational wake it excites in the ambient medium. We study the effects of the presence of a boundary on dynamical friction by studying analytically the interaction of perturber with uniform rectilinear motion in a uniform homogeneous medium with a reflecting planar boundary. Wake reflection at a medium's boundary may occur at the edges of truncated disks perturbed by planetary or stellar companions as well as in numerical simulations of planet-disk interaction with no-outflow boundary conditions. In this paper, we show that the presence of the boundary modifies the behaviour of dynamical friction significantly. We find that perturbers are invariably pushed away from the boundary and reach a terminal subsonic velocity near Mach 0.37 regardless of initial velocity. Dynamical friction may even be reversed for Mach numbers less than 0.37 thereby accelerating instead of decelerating the perturber. Perturbers moving parallel to the boundary feel additional friction orthogonal to the direction of motion that is much stronger than the standard friction along the direction of motion. These results indicate that the common use of the standard Chandrasekhar formula as a short hand estimate of dynamical friction may be inadequate as observed in various numerical simulations.
No associations
LandOfFree
On dynamical friction in a gaseous medium with a boundary does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.
If you have personal experience with On dynamical friction in a gaseous medium with a boundary, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and On dynamical friction in a gaseous medium with a boundary will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-624073