Anomalous diffusion and collapse of self-gravitating Langevin particles in D dimensions.

Abstract

We address the generalized thermodynamics and the collapse of a system of self-gravitating Langevin particles exhibiting anomalous diffusion in a space of dimension D. This is a basic model of stochastic particles in interaction. The equilibrium states correspond to polytropic configurations similar to stellar polytropes and polytropic stars. The index n of the polytrope is related to the exponent of anomalous diffusion. We consider a high-friction limit and reduce the problem to the study of the nonlinear Smoluchowacute;ski-Poisson system. We show that the associated Lyapunov functional is the Tsallis free energy. We discuss in detail the equilibrium phase diagram of self-gravitating polytropes as a function of D and n, and determine their stability by using turning point arguments and analytical methods. When no equilibrium state exists, we investigate self-similar solutions of the nonlinear Smoluchowski-Poisson system describing the collapse. Our stability analysis of polytropic spheres can be used to settle the generalized thermodynamical stability of self-gravitating Langevin particles as well as the nonlinear dynamical stability of stellar polytropes, polytropic stars and polytropic vortices. Our study also has applications concerning the chemotactic aggregation of bacterial populations.