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10. Thermodynamics of Self-Gravitating Particles
T Padmanabhan
1
For those who are unfamiliar d o es n o t d ecrea se (a n d in g en era l in crea ses).1 F o r a n y
with this expression, here is a su ch sy stem , w e ca n o b ta in th e eq u ilib riu m fo rm o f f b y
recap: In the standard deriva-
ex trem isin g th e en tro p y w h ile k eep in g th e to ta l en erg y
tion of Boltzmann distribution,
one extremises the function
a n d m a ss co n sta n t u sin g tw o L a g ra n g e m u ltip liers. T h is
S = – ni ln ni of the occupation is a sta n d a rd ex ercise in sta tistica l m ech a n ics a n d th e
numbers ni subject to the con- resu ltin g d istrib u tio n fu n ctio n is th e u su a l B o ltzm a n n
straint on total energy and num- d istrib u tio n g ov ern ed b y :
ber. In the continuuum limit one
· µ ¶¸ Z
works with f rather than ni and 1 2
the summation over i becomes
f (x ;v ) / ex p ¡ ¯ v + Á ; Á (x ) = d 3 y U (x ;y )½ (y ):
2
an integral over the phase space (2 )
leading to (1).
In teg ra tin g ov er v elo cities, w e g et th e clo sed sy stem o f
eq u a tio n s fo r th e d en sity d istrib u tio n :
Z
½ (x ) = d 3 v f = A ex p (¡ ¯ Á (x ));
Z
Á (x ) = d 3 y U (x ;y )½ (y ): (3 )
th e eq u a tio n s:
y 0= m = x 2 ; m 0
= n x2; n 0= ¡ m n = x 2 : (7 )
w h ere x 0 = R = L 0 is th e b o u n d a ry a n d th e ex p ressio n
fo r K fo llow s fro m th e v elo city d ep en d en ce o f f in (2 ).
T h e to ta l en erg y is, th erefo re,
G M 02 Z x 0
E = K + U = d x (3 n x 2 ¡ 2 m n x )
2L 0 0
G M 02 Z x 0 d
= d x f2n x 3 ¡ 3m g
2L 0 0 dx
2 ½ ¾
G M 0 3 3
= n 0x 0 ¡ m 0 ;
L0 2
(1 2 )
A p p e n d ix
Z
S 1
e = g (E ) = d 3 N x d 3 N p ± (E ¡ H ); (1 5 )
N !
w h ere H is th e H a m ilto n ia n fo r th e sy stem o f N p a rticles g iv en b y th e su m o f
th e k in etic en erg ies (p 2i = 2 m ) (i = 1 ;2 ;:::;N ) a n d th e p o ten tia l en erg y o f p a irw ise
in tera ctio n . T h e D ira c d elta fu n ctio n tells u s th a t th e sy stem is co n ¯ n ed to th e
b o u n d a ry o f a 3 N d im en sio n a l sp h ere in m o m en tu m sp a ce g iv en b y th e eq u a tio n
2 3
XN 1X
p 2i = 2 m 4E ¡ U (x i;x j )5 ´ l2 : (1 6 )
i= 1 2 i6= j
w h ere
2 3
µ ¶
3N 1 XJ XJ n aJ
S [f n a g ] = ln 4E ¡ n a U (x a ;x b )n b 5 ¡ n a ln : (2 0 )
2 2 a6
= b a= 1 eV
If th e n u m b er o f p a rticles in ea ch cell is su ± cien tly la rg e { a s u su a lly is th e
ca se { th is is n o t a d ra stic a p p rox im a tio n . W e a re, o f co u rse, in terested in th e
co n ¯ g u ra tio n o f f n a g fo r w h ich th e su m m a n d in (1 9 ) rea ch es th e m a x im u m va lu e,
su b ject to th e co n stra in t o n th e to ta l n u m b er. T h is w o rk s in sta n d a rd sta tistica l
m ech a n ics b eca u se, in m o st ca ses o f in terest, th e la rg est term a ctu a lly d o m in a tes
th e su m a n d th e erro r in v o lv ed in ig n o rin g th e rest is sm a ll. T h a t is, to a h ig h
o rd er o f a ccu ra cy S = S [n a ;m a x ], w h ere n a ;m a x is th e so lu tio n to th e va ria tio n a l
p ro b lem (± S = ± n a ) = 0 w ith th e su m o f p a rticle n u m b ers n a b ein g k ep t eq u a l to
N . Im p o sin g th is co n stra in t b y a L a g ra n g e m u ltip lier a n d u sin g th e ex p ressio n
(2 0 ) fo r S , w e o b ta in th e eq u a tio n sa tis¯ ed b y n a ;m a x :
µ ¶
1 XJ n a ;m a x J
U (x a ;x b )n b;m ax + ln = co n sta n t; (2 1 )
T b= 1 V
w h ere w e h av e de¯ n ed th e tem p era tu re T th ro u g h th e rela tio n :
0 1 ¡1
1 3N @ 1 XJ
= E ¡ n a U (x a ;x b )n b A = ¯ (2 2 )
T 2 2 a 6= b
w ith n a = n a ;m a x . T o see th a t th is is n o t a s stra n g e a s it lo o k s, y o u o n ly n eed to
n o te, fro m (2 0 ) th a t th is ¯ is a lso eq u a l to (@ S = @ E ); th erefo re o n e ca n th in k o f
T a s th e co rrect th erm o d y n a m ic tem p era tu re. W e ca n n o w retu rn b a ck to th e
co n tin u u m lim it o f (2 1 ) b y w ritin g n a ;m a x (J = V ) = ½ (x a ) a n d rep la cin g th e su m
ov er p a rticles b y in teg ra tio n w ith th e m ea su re J = V . In th is co n tin u u m lim it, th e
ex trem u m so lu tio n in (2 1 ) is g iv en p recisely b y (3 ).