Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2016 / iii / Paper 320 / 4 / c / Solution

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 ${\sigma }^2$, its density slope givesThus ${\sigma }^2=v_0^2/2$ and the circular and isotropic speed comparison in a singular isothermal sphere isThis is realized by a positive isotropic distribution $F\propto \exp (E/{\sigma }^2)$, which gives a Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution of velocities and $\rho \propto \exp (\psi /{\sigma }^2)\propto r^{-2}$. Circular orbits have instead $⟨v_r^2⟩=0$ and $⟨v_{\theta }^2⟩=⟨v_{\varphi }^2⟩=v_0^2/2$, so their total mean square speed is $v_0^2$. 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 $R$, its radial-pressure surface term is $4\pi R^3\rho (R){\sigma }_r^2$. 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.