Abstract
We review the results of recent investigations of the dynamics of one-dimensional gravitational systems carried out at Texas Christian University. Two types of systems are considered: (1) parallel mass sheets of infinite spatial extent and (2) concentric, spherically symmetric, irrotational mass shells confined between two rigid spherical barriers. By studying the kinetic energy equipartition of a sheet system consisting of two distinct populations with a fixed mass ratio, we show that the system approaches equilibrium on a long time scale. We show that the system of spherical shells has stronger ergodic properties than the planar sheets and that it approaches equilibrium on a much shorter time scale. In addition, for sufficiently small inner barrier radius, it undergoes a phase transition to a state with a greatly condensed core as the energy passes through its phase equilibrium value.
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© 1999 Springer-Verlag
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Miller, B.N., Yawn, K.R., Youngkins, V.P. (1999). Recent progress in studies of one-dimensional gravitating systems. In: Leach, P.G.L., Bouquet, S.E., Rouet, JL., Fijalkow, E. (eds) Dynamical Systems, Plasmas and Gravitation. Lecture Notes in Physics, vol 518. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0105923
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0105923
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