Origin of the power-law profile in a core-collapsing galactic globular-cluster model

Abstract

Observed galactic globular clusters reveal power-law structural profiles in the inner halos around the core-collapse stage. However, the origin of the power-law has not been explained in an acceptable manner. The present paper applies the Buckingham's Pi theorem to the orbit-averaged Fokker-Plank (OAFP) model of equal masses to study the inner-halo structure of a core-collapsing isotropic star cluster. We first prove that an infinite OAFP model evolves self-similarly because of the principle of covariance. We then show that the inner halo must form a power-law profile in a finite OAFP model that has complete similarity so that the principle of covariance and conservation laws hold. The conventional assumption that inner halos are self-similar and stationary is unnecessary to explain the power-law profiles.