Hypervirial distribution function Created 2026-09-28 Updated 2026-10-06
The hypervirial model is generated self-consistently by a constant-anisotropy distribution function proportional to
Its velocity-anisotropy parameter is .
A phase-space distribution function describes the mass in a small cell of positions and velocities: is that mass. Its velocity integral is the spatial mass density, and at a fixed position is a normalized velocity probability density. A number-normalized galactic distribution function differs by the stellar mass convention.
Take and . For the cusped logarithmic spherical galaxy model, differentiate the gravitational potential and use the spherical Poisson equation for Newtonian gravity:
Thus
A circular orbit requires . Its galaxy rotation curve is therefore
It rises as at small radius and approaches from below at large radius.
Figure 1.
Rotation curve of the cusped logarithmic spherical galaxy model
. Details.
The outer flat galaxy rotation curve is qualitatively useful for galaxies. However, the density has an inner cusp and an outer tail, while diverges. The model therefore requires an outer truncation for a finite galaxy, and does not describe a central constant-density core. Its gravitational potential cannot be normalized to zero at infinity.
For a star, the specific energy is and the specific angular momentum is . Since the gravitational potential is stationary and spherical,
Thus both the specific energy and the entire angular-momentum vector are conserved.
For Jeans theorem, follow a stellar trajectory in phase space. The Collisionless Boltzmann equation is precisely
In a steady system , so the value of the galactic distribution function is constant along every trajectory: it is itself an integral of motion. Conversely, if are time-independent integrals of motion, then satisfies . Locally, a complete set of invariant orbit labels expresses any steady galactic distribution function this way. This is the weak form of Jeans theorem; a stronger assertion about a small set of isolating integrals needs additional orbital regularity or mixing assumptions. In particular, the theorem does not say that every steady galaxy must have a galactic distribution function depending on only and .
For the proposed constant-anisotropy distribution function, write and . Introduce a polar angle in the tangential velocity plane. Then , so the apparent singularity cancels against the velocity Jacobian. This inverse-angular-momentum velocity integration makes the density finite for every .
Let , , , and . Each exponential component contributes
Here the two Gaussian integrals and the angular integral have product . Consequently,
The galactic distribution function is nonnegative, gives the required density, and depends on conserved ; by Jeans theorem it is a self-consistent steady solution.
Differentiating the Gaussian integral with respect to shows that each component has , and the same value for . Angular averaging gives . Weighting these by yields the velocity dispersions
The radial numerator includes , as in the original PDF. All mean velocities vanish by parity. The same parity, or the zero angular average of , gives .
The velocity-anisotropy parameter is
The constant-anisotropy distribution function therefore favors radial motion at every radius: the radial variance is twice either individual tangential variance. It still has a substantial population with nonzero angular momentum, rather than exclusively radial orbits. The factor enhances low-angular-momentum stars. The radial velocity dispersion approaches at the centre and far out; each individual tangential variance is half as large. There is no mean rotation, despite the well-defined galaxy rotation curve for hypothetical circular orbits.
Assume a time-independent spherical relative potential , with acceleration . The relative energy and specific angular momentum are
Along an orbit, and , since a spherical gradient is radial. Thus both and are integrals of motion. Choose the escape level and take the bound galactic distribution function to vanish for .
For an isotropic , integrate over a spherical coordinate system in velocity space:
Differentiating gives . Convolve once more with the reciprocal-square-root kernel. Reversing the order of integration, under the usual integrability assumptions, uses
Therefore . Differentiating proves Eddington inversion:
Here is outside the square root, as in the original PDF; the TeX transcription wrongly places it inside. The assumptions include a locally integrable bound distribution and sufficient density regularity, with no extra unbound or boundary population. An inverted expression must additionally be nonnegative to be physical. Since the velocity measure and are invariant under all velocity rotations, whenever these moments exist; mixed moments vanish.
For the half-anisotropic distribution function, write the polar velocity angle from the radial direction as . Then , and
The apparent singularity is integrable because it cancels the factor in the velocity measure. Integrating and gives
The density relation requires at the escape boundary and for a physical distribution. Consider a monotonically decreasing . The largest allowed radius at fixed binding energy is the radial-orbit limit with ; a nonzero- orbit normally has a smaller apocenter because of its centrifugal term. Changing from to gives
The numerator in the original PDF instead uses . That is a genuine printed error: the chain rule for requires . It is not legitimate to prove the printed expression as written. A concrete counterexample is the unit-parameter Hernquist model at : , and . The printed quotient is , whereas the correct is . The former would give a negative distribution.
The angular weight after cancellation is uniform in , so the averages of and are both . The azimuthal angle splits the tangential term equally. Hence and each individual tangential moment is half the radial one. The velocity-anisotropy parameter is consequently
This is a radially biased constant-anisotropy distribution function, not an isotropic one or purely radial motion. It does not by itself prove dynamical stability; it preferentially weights small angular momentum while remaining integrable.
For the Hernquist model, use the Poisson equation for Newtonian gravity with the relative-potential sign, . Since ,
Its enclosed mass is , which tends to . Expressing the augmented density in the relative potential gives . The preceding derivative therefore gives
with zero bound-model population outside the allowed energy domain. It is nonnegative and reproduces the density by direct integration. The Hernquist model has a central density cusp, so the formulas for the local distribution are interpreted at . As a further check, the radial second moment obtained from the same integral is and each tangential second moment is , consistent with .
Use the relative energy . At fixed , write velocity-space spherical coordinates with polar angle from the radial direction, so . Then
The beta function integrals give
where
Thus and , with convergence for and .
Comparison with part a gives
Hence the model has the constant-anisotropy distribution function
where matching the two density coefficients gives