Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Jun 1992
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1992pasj...44..291f&link_type=abstract
Astronomical Society of Japan, Publications (ISSN 0004-6264), vol. 44, no. 3, 1992, p. 291-301.
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
22
Elliptical Galaxies, Interacting Galaxies, Particle Energy, Relaxation (Mechanics), Thermodynamic Equilibrium, Astronomical Models, Computerized Simulation, Energy Distribution
Scientific paper
Numerical N-body simulations of a violent relaxation process using a special-purpose computer, GRAPE-1, are performed. It is found that violent relaxation enhances segregation in energy space. In violent relaxation, particles with higher energy gain more energy than particles with lower energy. In two-body relaxation, however, particles with higher energy lose energy, and particles with lower energy gain it. Therefore, self-gravitating system does not approach thermal equilibrium through violent relaxation. Violent relaxation changes the energies of particles through a time variation of the mean potential field caused by the coherent motion of particles. The change in the kinetic energy does not depend on the energy of the particle, itself, since coherent motion, which has a much larger energy, heats all particles in order to approach energy equipartition, regardless of their velocities. The magnitude of the change in the mean potential field in the outer region is higher than that in the inner region. Therefore, the gain in the average energy in the outer region is larger than that in the inner region. This difference in the energy gain enhances segregation in energy space, since particles with higher energy receive a greater amount of energy. Therefore, violent relaxation does not lead a self-gravitating system to thermal equilibrium. This result implies that the energy of each particle in a merger remnant is strongly correlated with its initial energy. Therefore, the radial structures of galaxies, such as the color gradient, are likely to survive violent relaxation.
Ebisuzaki Toshikazu
Funato Yoko
Makino Junichiro
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