2022/03/02 by Walter A. Strauss, Yilun Wu, Strauss, Walter A. +1
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Analysis of PDEs (math.AP) #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #FOS: Mathematics #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research #Spacecraft Dynamics and Control
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2203.01454
openalex publication_date 2022/03/02 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
A typical galaxy consists of a huge number of stars attracted to each other by gravity. For instance, the Milky Way has about 1011 stars. Thus it is typically modeled by the Vlasov-Poisson system. We prove an existence theorem for axisymmetric steady states of galaxies that may rotate rapidly. Such states are given in terms of a fairly general function ϕ of the particle energy and angular momentum. The set \mathcal K of such states form a connected set in an appropriate function space. Along the set \mathcal K, we prove under some conditions that either (a) the supports of the galaxies become unbounded or (b) both the rotation speeds and the densities somewhere within the galaxy become unbounded.