Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-astrophysical-fluid-dynamics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2014/paper-1/1/a/solution

For an ideal gas of fixed composition, the central temperature satisfies . Keeping fixed therefore requires , rather than keeping the polytropic constant fixed. Substitution in the Lane-Emden equation scalings gives
Consequently the homologous polytropes at fixed central temperature obey
The polytropic index and mean particle mass must be common to this homologous sequence: varying either changes the dimensionless structural coefficient. The fixed-central-temperature assumption is the idealization being used here, rather than a universal property of real stars.

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