Rotationally Flattened Isothermal Structures

Hayashi, Narita & Miyama (1982; hereafter HNM82) discovered an analytic solution to the equations that govern the structure of rotationally flattened, self-gravitating isothermal gas clouds. Their solution describes a family of centrally condensed models whose degree of flattening ranges from a spherical structure to an infinitesimally thin disk. For several reasons, I consider this to be one of the most remarkable discoveries — and, hence, one of the most significant papers — related to the structure of self-gravitating systems that was published in the decade of the '80s. First, as has been remarked earlier, there is no particular reason why one should guess ahead of time that the equilibrium properties of any rotating, self-gravitating configuration should be describable in terms of analytic functions. When dealing with compressible equations of state, such analytic solutions are rare even in the context of spherically symmetric structures, so it is impressive that HNM82 found a solution for rotationally flattened, isothermal configurations. Second, about six months earlier the same year, Alar Toomre (1982) published an independent discovery and strikingly independent derivation of exactly the same family of rotationally flattened, isothermal models. Third, these two independent derivations were motivated by a desire to better understand two quite different astrophysical environments: The research of HNM82 was focused on star-forming gas clouds while Toomre's research was focused on the structure of elliptical galaxies and the dark-matter halos around spiral galaxies.

Despite my assertion that HNM82 is one of the most significant papers to be published over the past few decades, citation indexes reveal that it is not widely referenced. In large part I attribute this to the fact that HNM82 was published in a Japanese journal (Progress of Theoretical Physics) that has not yet made its archival articles available to the open-access, Astrophysics Data System.

Governing Relations

As has been derived elsewhere, for axisymmetric configurations that obey a barotropic equation of state, hydrostatic balance is governed by the following algebraic expression:

<math>H + \Phi_\mathrm{eff} = C_\mathrm{B} ,</math>

where <math>C_\mathrm{B}</math> is the Bernoulli constant,

<math>\Phi_\mathrm{eff} \equiv \Phi + \Psi ,</math>

and <math>\Psi</math> is the relevant centrifugal potential. For self-gravitating configurations, this algebraic expression must be satisfied in concert with a self-consistent solution of the Poisson equation, which for axisymmetric configurations may be written as,

<math> \frac{1}{\varpi} \frac{\partial }{\partial\varpi} \biggl[ \varpi \frac{\partial \Phi}{\partial\varpi} \biggr] + \frac{\partial^2 \Phi}{\partial z^2} = 4\pi G \rho . </math>

Supplemental Relations

Following HNM82, we supplement the above-specified set of governing equations with an isothermal equation of state,

where <math>c_s</math> is the sound speed. Hence, to within an additive constant, the relevant expression for the enthalpy is,

<math> H = \int \frac{dP}{\rho} = c_s^2 \ln\biggl(\frac{\rho}{\rho_0}\biggr) . </math>

Also following HNM82, we impose a steady-state velocity flow-field that is described by a fluid with uniform rotational velocity, <math>v_\varphi</math>. Drawing from our table of example Simple rotation profiles, the centrifugal potential that describes this chosen flow-field is given by the expression,

<math> \Psi(\varpi) = - v_\varphi^2 \ln\biggl(\frac{\varpi}{\varpi_0}\biggr) . </math>

Summary

In summary, for the particular structures of interest to HNM82, the algebraic relation governing hydrostatic balance is,

<math> \Phi(\varpi,z) = C_\mathrm{B} - c_s^2 \ln\biggl[\frac{\rho(\varpi,z)}{\rho_0}\biggr] + v_\varphi^2 \ln\biggl(\frac{\varpi}{\varpi_0}\biggr) . </math>

This must be solved in conjunction with the Poisson equation, which specifies the second key relationship between <math>~\Phi</math> and <math>~\rho</math>, namely,

<math> \frac{1}{\varpi} \frac{\partial }{\partial\varpi} \biggl[ \varpi \frac{\partial \Phi(\varpi,z)}{\partial\varpi} \biggr] + \frac{\partial^2 \Phi(\varpi,z)}{\partial z^2} = 4\pi G \rho(\varpi,z) . </math>

Solution

Rationalizing the Approach

HNM82 provide a very clear and detailed description of the approach that they took to solving the above-identified set of simplified governing relations. (Note that Hayashi is credited with deriving the analytic solution.) In very general terms, one can understand the thought process that must have been going on in Hayashi's mind:

For an isothermal gas cloud, the enthalpy is necessarily a logarithmic function of the density.
For spherically symmetric, isothermal configurations, a solution to the governing relations exists in which <math>~\rho</math> can be expressed as a power-law function of the radius, specifically, <math>\rho \propto r^{-2}</math>.
Although one could attempt to derive equilibrium structures having a wide range of Simple rotation profiles, it would seem wisest to select a centrifugal potential function that at least has the same form as the enthalpy; hence, the choice was made to impose <math>v_\varphi = \mathrm{constant}</math>.

HNM82 Derivation

User:Tohline/Apps/HayashiNaritaMiyama82

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