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Statistical mechanics of gravitating systems ... and some curious history of Chandra’s rare misses!

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Abstract

Chandra’s academic life had several phases each culminating in a monograph describing that subject. I shall deal with aspects of his work in the two earliest phases. I shall describe the overall structure of statistical mechanics of gravitating systems, the relevance of isothermal sphere in the mean-field approximation and issues related to collisional relaxation and dynamical friction in self-gravitating system of particles. There are several curious features in the history of these topics which I comment upon.

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  1. Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pune University Campus, Ganeshkhind, Pune, 411 007, India

    T PADMANABHAN

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  1. T PADMANABHAN
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Correspondence to T PADMANABHAN.

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PADMANABHAN, T. Statistical mechanics of gravitating systems ... and some curious history of Chandra’s rare misses! . Pramana - J Phys 77, 147–156 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12043-011-0124-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12043-011-0124-1

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