Legendre expansion of thin-disk gravity

ID: legendre-expansion-of-thin-disk-gravity

For a thin axisymmetric astrophysical disk, angular integration of the Newtonian kernel eliminates odd Legendre polynomials. Define and . The even coefficient is . In differentiating the paired inner and outer contributions, their moving-boundary terms cancel. The resulting galaxy rotation curve includes an inward inner-ring contribution and an outward exterior-ring contribution. For smooth surface density, the force at the disk is interpreted with a symmetric Cauchy principal value or a vanishing-thickness regularization.

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