Numerical stability of a family of Osipkov-Merrit models

Abstract

We have investigated the stability of a set of non-rotating anisotropic spherical models with a phase-space distribution function of the Osipkov-Merritt type. The velocity distribution in these models is isotropic near the center and becomes radially anisotropic at large radii. They are special members of the family studied by Dehnen and Tremaine et al. where the mass density has a power-law cusp $\rho\propto r^{-\gamma}$ at small radii and decays as $\rho\propto r^{-4}$ at large radii. The radial-orbit instability of models with $\gamma$ = 0, 1/2, 1, 3/2, and 2, was studied using an N-body code written by one of us and based on the `self-consistent field' method developed by Hernquist and Ostriker. These simulations have allowed us to delineate a boundary in the $(\gamma,r_{a})$-plane that separates the stable from the unstable models. This boundary is given by $2T_{r}/T_{t} = 2.31 \pm 0.27$, for the ratio of the total radial to tangential kinetic energy. We also found that the stability criterion $df/dQ\le 0$, recently raised by Hjorth, gives lower values compared with our numerical results.