Physical Review Special Topics. Accelerators and Beams (Oct 2009)

Gravitational instability of a nonrotating galaxy

  • Alexander W. Chao

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevSTAB.12.104201
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 12, no. 10
p. 104201

Abstract

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Gravitational instability of the distribution of stars in a galaxy is a well-known phenomenon in astrophysics. This report is an attempt to analyze this phenomenon by applying standard tools developed in accelerator physics. It is found that a nonrotating galaxy would become unstable if its size exceeds a certain limit that depends on its mass density and its temperature.