Stability of Dynamically Collapsing Gas Sphere

Abstract

We discuss stability of dynamically collapsing gas spheres. We use a similarity solution for a dynamically collapsing sphere as the unperturbed state. In the similarity solution the gas pressure is approximated by a polytrope of $ P = K \rho ^\gamma $. We examine three types of perturbations: bar ($ \ell = 2$) mode, spin-up mode, and Ori-Piran mode. When $ \gamma < 1.097 $, it is unstable against bar-mode. It is unstable against spin-up mode for any $ \gamma $. When $ \gamma < 0.961 $, the similarity solution is unstable against Ori-Piran mode. The unstable mode grows in proportion to $ | t - t_0 | ^{-\sigma} $ while the central density increases in proportion to $ \rho_c \propto (t - t_0) ^{-2} $ in the similarity solution. The growth rate, $ \sigma $ is obtained numerically as a function of $ \gamma $ for bar mode and Ori-Piran mode. The growth rate of the bar mode is larger for a smaller $ \gamma $. The spin-up mode has the growth rate of $ \sigma = 1/3 $ for any $ \gamma $.