Jeans instability in an expanding universe with dissipation

Abstract

Jeans instability is analyzed in an expanding universe within the framework of BGK model of the Boltzmann equation and Poisson equations. The background is characterized by a comoving Maxwellian distribution function and a spacetime Newtonian gravitational potential which satisfy the BGK model of the Boltzmann–Poisson equations without the necessity to invoke “Jeans swindle.” The perturbations of the distribution function and Newtonian gravitational potentials from their background states are represented by plane waves of small amplitudes and a differential equation for the density contrast is determined. The density contrast differential equation was solved numerically and it is shown: (i) Jeans instability is characterized by perturbation wavelengths larger than Jeans wavelength where the density contrast grows with time. The growth of the density contrast is less accentuated for the case where the particle collisions are considered due to an energy dissipation; (ii) for perturbation wavelengths smaller than Jeans wavelength the density contrast has an oscillatory behavior in time and the oscillations for the case where the collisions are taken into account fade away in time due to the energy dissipation.