Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 320 4 c Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
False. The singular isothermal sphere is infinite in extent and mass. The isolated finite-system virial theorem cannot be applied to its global divergent energies without boundary terms.
A direct Spherical Jeans equation counterexample is enough. For isotropic velocities with constant one-dimensional dispersion , its density slope givesThus and the circular and isotropic speed comparison in a singular isothermal sphere isThis is realized by a positive isotropic distribution , which gives a Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution of velocities and . Circular orbits have instead and , so their total mean square speed is . The isotropic model contains eccentric orbits except for a measure-zero subset.
The boundary virial term of a singular isothermal sphere explains the different energy budgets of a finite spherical region. At radius , its radial-pressure surface term is . It is nonzero in the isotropic model and zero in the circular-orbit model. Equality of the density therefore does not enforce equality of the velocity energy through an incorrectly omitted surface term.