Paper 3, Section II, C

Cosmology | Part II, 2017

(a) The scalar moment of inertia for a system of NN particles is given by

I=i=1NmiririI=\sum_{i=1}^{N} m_{i} \mathbf{r}_{i} \cdot \mathbf{r}_{i}

where mim_{i} is the particle's mass and ri\mathbf{r}_{i} is a vector giving the particle's position. Show that, for non-relativistic particles,

12d2Idt2=2K+i=1NFiri\frac{1}{2} \frac{d^{2} I}{d t^{2}}=2 K+\sum_{i=1}^{N} \mathbf{F}_{i} \cdot \mathbf{r}_{i}

where KK is the total kinetic energy of the system and Fi\mathbf{F}_{i} is the total force on particle

Assume that any two particles ii and jj interact gravitationally with potential energy

Vij=GmimjrirjV_{i j}=-\frac{G m_{i} m_{j}}{\left|\mathbf{r}_{i}-\mathbf{r}_{j}\right|}

Show that

i=1NFiri=V\sum_{i=1}^{N} \mathbf{F}_{i} \cdot \mathbf{r}_{i}=V

where VV is the total potential energy of the system. Use the above to prove the virial theorem.

(b) Consider an approximately spherical overdensity of stationary non-interacting massive particles with initial constant density ρi\rho_{i} and initial radius RiR_{i}. Assuming the system evolves until it reaches a stable virial equilibrium, what will the final ρ\rho and RR be in terms of their initial values? Would this virial solution be stable if our particles were baryonic rather than non-interacting? Explain your answer.

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