Escape of stars from gravitational clusters in the Chandrasekhar model

We study the evaporation of stars from globular clusters using the simplified Chandrasekhar model. This is an analytically tractable model giving reasonable agreement with more sophisticated models that require complicated numerical integrations. In the Chandrasekhar model: (i) the stellar system is assumed to be infinite and homogeneous (ii) the evolution of the velocity distribution of stars f(v,t) is governed by a Fokker-Planck equation, the so-called Kramers-Chandrasekhar equation (iii) the velocities |v| that are above a threshold value R>0 (escape velocity) are not counted in the statistical distribution of the system. In fact, high velocity stars leave the system, due to free evaporation or to the attraction of a neighboring galaxy (tidal effects). Accordingly, the total mass and energy of the system decrease in time. If the star dynamics is described by the Kramers-Chandrasekhar equation, the mass decreases to zero exponentially rapidly. Our goal is to obtain non-perturbative analytical results that complement the seminal studies of Chandrasekhar, Michie and King valid for large times $t\to+\infty$ and large escape velocities $R\to +\infty$. In particular, we obtain an exact semi-explicit solution of the Kramers-Chandrasekhar equation with the absorbing boundary condition f(R,t)=0. We use it to obtain an explicit expression of the mass loss at any time t when $R\to +\infty$. We also derive an exact integral equation giving the exponential evaporation rate $\lambda(R)$, and the corresponding eigenfunction $f_{\lambda}(v)$, when $t\to +\infty$ for any sufficiently large value of the escape velocity R. For $R\to +\infty$, we obtain an explicit expression of the evaporation rate that refines the Chandrasekhar results

Kinetic equations with Maxwell boundary conditions

We prove global stability results of {\sl DiPerna-Lions} renormalized solutions for the initial boundary value problem associated to some kinetic equations, from which existence results classically follow. The (possibly nonlinear) boundary conditions are completely or partially diffuse, which includes the so-called Maxwell boundary conditions, and we prove that it is realized (it is not only a boundary inequality condition as it has been established in previous works). We are able to deal with Boltzmann, Vlasov-Poisson and Fokker-Planck type models. The proofs use some trace theorems of the kind previously introduced by the author for the Vlasov equations, new results concerning weak-weak convergence (the renormalized convergence and the biting $L^1$-weak convergence), as well as the Darroz\`es-Guiraud information in a crucial way

From Vlasov-Poisson and Vlasov-Poisson-Fokker-Planck Systems to Incompressible Euler Equations: the case with finite charge

We study the asymptotic regime of strong electric fields that leads from the Vlasov-Poisson system to the Incompressible Euler equations. We also deal with the Vlasov-Poisson-Fokker-Planck system which induces dissipative effects. The originality consists in considering a situation with a finite total charge confined by a strong external field. In turn, the limiting equation is set in a bounded domain, the shape of which is determined by the external confining potential. The analysis extends to the situation where the limiting density is non-homogeneous and where the Euler equation is replaced by the Lake Equation, also called Anelastic Equation.Comment: 39 pages, 3 figure

Kinetic theory of point vortices in two dimensions: analytical results and numerical simulations

We develop the kinetic theory of point vortices in two-dimensional hydrodynamics and illustrate the main results of the theory with numerical simulations. We first consider the evolution of the system "as a whole" and show that the evolution of the vorticity profile is due to resonances between different orbits of the point vortices. The evolution stops when the profile of angular velocity becomes monotonic even if the system has not reached the statistical equilibrium state (Boltzmann distribution). In that case, the system remains blocked in a sort of metastable state with a non standard distribution. We also study the relaxation of a test vortex in a steady bath of field vortices. The relaxation of the test vortex is described by a Fokker-Planck equation involving a diffusion term and a drift term. The diffusion coefficient, which is proportional to the density of field vortices and inversely proportional to the shear, usually decreases rapidly with the distance. The drift is proportional to the gradient of the density profile of the field vortices and is connected to the diffusion coefficient by a generalized Einstein relation. We study the evolution of the tail of the distribution function of the test vortex and show that it has a front structure. We also study how the temporal auto-correlation function of the position of the test vortex decreases with time and find that it usually exhibits an algebraic behavior with an exponent that we compute analytically. We mention analogies with other systems with long-range interactions

Weakly collisional Landau damping and three-dimensional Bernstein-Greene-Kruskal modes: New results on old problems

Landau damping and Bernstein-Greene-Kruskal (BGK) modes are among the most fundamental concepts in plasma physics. While the former describes the surprising damping of linear plasma waves in a collisionless plasma, the latter describes exact undamped nonlinear solutions of the Vlasov equation. There does exist a relationship between the two: Landau damping can be described as the phase-mixing of undamped eigenmodes, the so-called Case-Van Kampen modes, which can be viewed as BGK modes in the linear limit. While these concepts have been around for a long time, unexpected new results are still being discovered. For Landau damping, we show that the textbook picture of phase-mixing is altered profoundly in the presence of collision. In particular, the continuous spectrum of Case-Van Kampen modes is eliminated and replaced by a discrete spectrum, even in the limit of zero collision. Furthermore, we show that these discrete eigenmodes form a complete set of solutions. Landau-damped solutions are then recovered as true eigenmodes (which they are not in the collisionless theory). For BGK modes, our interest is motivated by recent discoveries of electrostatic solitary waves in magnetospheric plasmas. While one-dimensional BGK theory is quite mature, there appear to be no exact three-dimensional solutions in the literature (except for the limiting case when the magnetic field is sufficiently strong so that one can apply the guiding-center approximation). We show, in fact, that two- and three-dimensional solutions that depend only on energy do not exist. However, if solutions depend on both energy and angular momentum, we can construct exact three-dimensional solutions for the unmagnetized case, and two-dimensional solutions for the case with a finite magnetic field. The latter are shown to be exact, fully electromagnetic solutions of the steady-state Vlasov-Poisson-Amp\`ere system