Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2005 / iii / Paper 72 / 1 / 2 / Solution

Use the relative potential $\Psi ={\Phi }_{\ast }-\Phi$ and integrate the stated, untruncated Maxwell-Boltzmann velocity distribution over ${\mathbb{R}}^3$. The normalization cancels its three Gaussian integrals:The gravitational potential sign reverses under the relative-potential convention, so the spherical Poisson equation for Newtonian gravity isAlso ${\Psi }^{\prime }=-Gm(r)/r^2$, with $m^{\prime }=4\pi r^2\rho$. Differentiating the density relation yieldsAn ideal gas with constant temperature has $P=\rho k_{B}T/m_0$. Its hydrostatic equilibrium equation is precisely the same whenTogether with the same enclosed-mass equation, central density and boundary conditions, this proves the isothermal stellar and gas density equivalence. In dimensionless terms, $y=-[\Psi -\Psi (0)]/{\sigma }^2$ and $x=r\sqrt{4\pi G\rho (0)}/\sigma$ obey $x^{-2}(x^2{y}^{\prime }{)}^{\prime }=e^{-y}$ with $y(0)=y^{\prime }(0)=0$ in both systems.

This calculation uses the distribution as printed for all velocities. Imposing an additional cutoff at positive relative energy changes the integral to ${\rho }_1[e^W\mathrm{erf}\sqrt{W}-2\sqrt{W}/\sqrt{\pi }]$, where $W=\Psi /{\sigma }^2\ge 0$, and no longer gives an exactly isothermal gas profile. An untruncated self-gravitating isothermal sphere also needs an outer modification for finite total mass. The function $\mathrm{erf}$ here is the error function. Finally, the half-line Gaussian integral printed in the note lacks a factor: the correct value is ${\int }_0^{\infty }{e}^{-\alpha x^2}dx=\frac{1}{2}\sqrt{\pi /\alpha }$.