The Structure, Stability, and Dynamics
of Self-Gravitating Systems

Joel E. Tohline
tohline@rouge.phys.lsu.edu

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As soon as rotation is introduced into the problem, two general complications arise:

• An extra term due to rotation is introduced into the equation governing hydrostatic equilibrium (in the form of the centrifugal force), breaking the spherical symmetry of the problem.

• Generally, for a nonspherical distribution of matter, it is a nontrivial task to determine the gravitational field self-consistently and, once determined, the field usually is not expressible in terms of analytical functions.

Furthermore, even in the case of spherically symmetric objects, it is rare that an equilibrium solution can be determined analytically (cf., our discussion herein of spherical polytropes). Hence, as a rule, the equilibrium properties of rotating, self-gravitating configurations are not describable in terms of analytical functions. (As is discussed in detail in an accompanying chapter, Maclaurin Spheroids are a notable exception to this rule and thereby play an extremely important role in our understanding of the structure and stability of rotating, self-gravitating objects.)

As a foundation for the discussion of the structure of axisymmetric objects sporting a variety of degrees of compressibility and an assortment of angular momentum distributions, we present here the set of equations that govern the equilibrium of rotating, self-gravitating fluid systems.

We seek to construct equilibrium, self-gravitating configurations that are axisymmetric and have simple rotation. Such structures are most easily described mathematically in cylindrical coordinates. (See the accompanying appendix for a variety of relevant expressions.) For example, to implement the "axisymmetric" constraint in cylindrical coordinates, we set ¶_j ® 0 in all spatial operators. By doing this, we derive the following

The vector velocity in cylindrical coordinates quite generally takes the form:

By the phrase "simple rotation," we mean that the only fluid motion in the equilibrium configuration is circular (axisymmetric) motion in the azimuthal direction, i.e.,

and, furthermore, that the angular velocity w is only a function of the cylindrical radial coordinate, v. In summary, then, for all equilibrium axisymmetric objects considered throughout this H_Book, we will adopt the following

where,

With simple rotation imposed, the convective operator [III.F.4] further reduces to the form:

Specifically, in Euler's equation,

and the imposition of simple rotation means, furthermore,

Hence, from Euler's equation we derive the following condition for

By setting ¶_t ® 0 and imposing simple rotation, the equation of continuity and the first law of thermodynamics both are automatically satisfied for any axisymmetric distribution of the mass density and specific entropy. Hence, these two principal governing equations need not be dealt with directly when constructing equilibrium, axisymmetric configurations.

The equation of continuity [I.B.3] and the first law of thermodynamics [I.C.14] both can be written in the following "conservative" forms: ¶tq + Ñ×(q v) = 0, [Equation III.F.12] where q is a scalar physical variable. What does the variable q represent in the case of the equation of continuity? What does it represent in the case of the first law of thermodynamics? Show that by setting ¶t ® 0 and imposing simple rotation, the left-hand-side of this equation automatically goes to zero for any axisymmetric functional form of the variable q.

where h_o is a normalization constant. Specifically, for any reasonable function w(v),

satisfies this requirement.

Show that the centrifugal potential y(v) for any object that is rotating uniformly with angular velocity Wo is, y = - v2 / 2, [Equation III.F.22] if ho = Wo.

With the centrifugal potential defined in this way [III.F.21], the statement of hydrostatic equilibrium for axisymmetric configurations in simple rotation [III.F.19] may be written,

In order that this condition be satisfied, it must be true that, throughout the equilibrium structure,

where Co is a constant. It often is easier to construct rotating equilibrium configurations by demanding that this algebraic equation [III.F.24] be satisfied in conjunction with the axisymmetric Poisson equation than it is to construct rotating equilibria by solving the outlined set of coupled partial differential equations [III.F.13], [III.F.14], and [III.F.15] by a brute-force technique.

Throughout much of this H_Book, we will rely upon a numerical "self-consistent-field" (SCF) technique to construct rotating equilibrium configurations having a variety of different degrees of compressibility and a variety of different geometries. As was mentioned briefly in the context of spherical polytropic configurations, through an SCF technique, one iterates back and forth between solutions to the two equations [III.F.13 & III.F.24] that govern the equilibrium structure of self-gravitating, axisymmetric objects in simple rotation until a satisfactory, "self-consistent" solution to both equations has been determined.

In particular, we will rely heavily upon the specific SCF technique that was developed by Hachisu in the mid-1980's. The accompanying pages describe in detail how an HSCF (Hachisu self-consistent-field) numerical algorithm is constructed, and provide a guide to the various www-accessible HSCF utilities that have been developed at LSU.