Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2023/iii/paper-320/3/b/solution

Put
Part a gives
while the host circular speed is . The Chandrasekhar dynamical friction acceleration reduces to the radius-independent value
Assume stripped material leaves with the satellite's instantaneous specific angular momentum. The remaining orbit then obeys
Since ,
For initial radius ,
and
In this ideal cusp, radius and remaining mass both reach zero at the finite time .

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