Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2004 / iii / Paper 66 / 2

First velocity moment. Assume a stationary, spherical, nonstreaming collisionless stellar system with constant mass-to-light ratio ${\rm Y}$. Use a luminosity-weighted galactic distribution function, with luminosity density $\lambda$. Multiplying the Collisionless Boltzmann equation by $v_i$ and integrating over velocities, with its velocity-space boundary terms vanishing, givesSpherical symmetry makes the stress tensorHere ${\sigma }_t^2$ is one tangential component, as in the paper; the total tangential variance is $2{\sigma }_t^2$. Its radial divergence is $q^{\prime }+2(q-q_t)/r$, since the divergence of the radial unit vector is $2/r$. With the velocity-anisotropy parameter $\beta =1-{\sigma }_t^2/{\sigma }_r^2$, and enclosed mass $M(r)={\rm Y}L(r)$, this gives the Spherical Jeans equationThis uses a constant ratio of total gravitating mass to luminosity, rather than an arbitrary independent dark halo.

Projection and elimination of anisotropy. Write $R$ for projected radius and $r$ for spherical radius. The Abel transform of the luminosity density giveswhose inverse is the displayed density inversion in the paper. At a point on this line of sight, ${\sin }^2\theta =R^2/r^2$. The line-of-sight second stellar velocity moment is ${\sigma }_r^2{\cos }^2\theta +{\sigma }_t^2{\sin }^2\theta ={\sigma }_r^2(1-\beta R^2/r^2)$. Therefore the measured quantity $J(R)=\mu (R){\sigma }_p^2(R)$ satisfiesThe Spherical Jeans equation gives $\beta q=-r{q}^{\prime }/2-\gamma \lambda L/(2r)$. Substitution yieldsThe inner $\gamma L$ printed in the PDF's definition of $p$ must therefore be $\lambda L$: the literal expression has an extra gravitational factor and lacks the density. Both this derivation and dimensional consistency require the correction. Define the projected spherical Jeans residual byTo express it entirely in terms of the radial stress, putDifferentiating the nonsingular $z$ representation gives $A^{\prime }(R)=R{\int }_R^{\infty }{q}^{\prime }(r)/\sqrt{r^2-R^2}dr$. HenceIf $R^{2}A$ vanishes at zero and infinity, then ${\int }_0^{\infty }6\pi Rp(R)dR=6\pi [R^{2}A{]}_0^{\infty }=0$. These are the absence-of-boundary-stress conditions needed for the global result.

The virial relation, term by term. Interchange the order in the residual integral and useIt follows thatThe first term is $2K/{\rm Y}$: spherical averaging assigns one third of the integrated velocity-square to any fixed viewing direction, giving $K=3\pi {\rm Y}\int RJdR$. The gravitational potential energy isThus the integrated residual is exactly $(2K+W)/{\rm Y}$, and its vanishing is the virial theorem. Solving for $\gamma$ gives the global projected virial estimate of a mass-to-light ratio,It is independent of the radial anisotropy profile when the full aperture and the stated boundary conditions are used. A finite aperture retains a boundary term.