An approach to the quasi-equilibrium state of a self-gravitating system

Abstract

We propose an approach to find out when a self-gravitating system is in a quasi-equilibrium state. This approach is based on a comparison between two quantities identifying behavior of the system: a measure of interactions intensity and the area. Gravitational scattering cross section of the system, defined by using the two-particle scattering cross section formula, is considered as the measure of interactions intensity here. A quasi-equilibrium state of such system is considered as a state when there is a balance between these two quantities. As a result, we obtain an equation which relates density and temperature for such a system in the non-relativistic classical limit. This equation is consistent with the TOV equation as expected.

Keywords

• Quasi-equilibrium
• Quasi-stationary
• Self-gravitating systems
• Gravitating systems