Past exam of the astrophysical fluid dynamics course of the University of Cambridge / 2015 / Paper 1 / 4 / b / Solution

Let $\mathcal{L}$ be net cooling per unit volume, positive when energy is lost. At thermal equilibrium $\mathcal{L}=0$. For a slow perturbation that maintains pressure balance, the linearized thermal equation isThe heat capacity factor is positive. A positive derivative restores equilibrium: hotter gas cools more strongly, while cooler gas is heated. This is isobaric thermal stability of a heated ideal gas.

For fully ionized hydrogen, both protons and electrons contribute to the ideal gas law, so $P=2n{k}_{B}T$. Treat the stated constant heat input $\Gamma$ as a fixed heating rate per unit volume. Substituting $n=P/(2k_{B}T)$ into the cooling givesAt equilibrium $T_0$, its derivative isWith a temperature-independent recombination coefficient, the derivative is $-\Gamma /T_0$: the equilibrium is thermally unstable to isobaric perturbations. More generally, any nonincreasing ${\alpha }_B(T)$ also gives instability; stability requires its logarithmic slope to exceed one. Heating at fixed volume and pressure-balanced perturbations are distinct assumptions: the density falls as a parcel is heated, reducing the quadratic-density cooling.

No temperature law for ${\alpha }_B$ is supplied, so the displayed slope criterion states the general result without inventing one. A constant incident ultraviolet flux need not imply constant local volumetric heating in a self-consistent ionization-balance calculation. If the heating instead varies with density, temperature or neutral fraction, its derivative must be included; the conclusion here uses the explicit constant-$\Gamma$ model.