Dynamical friction for compound bodies

Abstract

In the framework of the fluctuation-dissipation approach to dynamical friction, we derive an expression giving the orbital energy exchange experienced by a compound body as it moves interacting with a non homogeneous discrete background. The body is assumed to be composed of particles endowed with a velocity spectrum and with a non homogeneous spatial distribution. The Chandrasekhar formula is recovered in the limit of a point-like satellite with zero velocity dispersion and infinite temperature moving through an homogeneous infinite medium. In this same limit, but dropping the zero satellite velocity dispersion ($\sigma_S$) condition, the orbital energy loss is found to be smaller than in the $\sigma_S=0$ case by a factor of up to an order of magnitude in some situations.