Density fluctuation dynamics in a dissipative self-gravitating dilute gas revisited

Abstract

The analysis of the behavior of density fluctuations in a dissipative self gravitating gas in the linear regime is revisited. A factorization for the dispersion relation given by approximate roots is proposed, which is analogous to the one introduced in the case without gravitational field. The threshold for the onset of a gravitational instability, namely Jeans wavenumber, is found to be unaltered by the presence of thermal and viscous dissipation. However, the behavior of damped modes does not correspond to the usual Rayleigh-Brillouin spectrum when the gravitational field is taken into account. Additional to the usual central Rayleigh peak and Brillouin doublet, both corrected due to the presence of the field, non-Lorentizan terms are included in the structure factor. These terms are larger in the presence of the gravitational field and may lead in principle to relevant differences in the general properties of the spectrum. The possible mathematical origin of these modifications is briefly discussed.