Phase transitions in self-gravitating systems: self-gravitating fermions and hard-sphere models.

Abstract

We discuss the nature of phase transitions in self-gravitating systems both in the microcanonical and in the canonical ensemble. We avoid the divergence of the gravitational potential at short distances by considering the case of self-gravitating fermions and hard-sphere models. Depending on the values of the parameters, three kinds of phase transitions (of zero, first, and second order) are evidenced. They separate a "gaseous" phase with a smoothly varying distribution of matter from a "condensed" phase with a core-halo structure. We propose a simple analytical model to describe these phase transitions. We determine the value of energy (in the microcanonical ensemble) and temperature (in the canonical ensemble) at the transition point and we study their dependence on the degeneracy parameter (for fermions) or on the size of the particles (for a hard-sphere gas). Scaling laws are obtained analytically in the asymptotic limit of a small short distance cutoff. Our analytical model captures the essential physics of the problem and compares remarkably well with the full numerical solutions. We also stress some analogies with the liquid-gas transition and with the Blume-Emery-Griffiths model with infinite range interactions. In particular, our system presents two tricritical points at which the transition passes from first order to second order.