Physics – Condensed Matter – Statistical Mechanics
Scientific paper
2008-08-22
Phys. Rev. E 78, 021130 (2008)
Physics
Condensed Matter
Statistical Mechanics
Scientific paper
10.1103/PhysRevE.78.021130
Theory and simulations are used to study collisionless relaxation of a gravitational $N$-body system. It is shown that when the initial one particle distribution function satisfies the virial condition -- potential energy is minus twice the kinetic energy -- the system quickly relaxes to a metastable state described {\it quantitatively} by the Lynden-Bell distribution with a cutoff. If the initial distribution function does not meet the virial requirement, the system undergoes violent oscillations, resulting in a partial evaporation of mass. The leftover particles phase separate into a core-halo structure. The theory presented allows us to quantitatively predict the amount and the distribution of mass left in the central core, without any adjustable parameters. On a longer time scale $\tau_G \sim N$ collisionless relaxation leads to a gravothermal collapse.
Levin Yan
Pakter Renato
Rizzato Felipe B.
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