SSC/Stability/n1PolytropeLAWE
Radial Oscillations of n = 1 Polytropic Spheres
Groundwork
In an accompanying discussion, we derived the so-called,
whose solution gives eigenfunctions that describe various radial modes of oscillation in spherically symmetric, self-gravitating fluid configurations. Because this widely used form of the radial pulsation equation is not dimensionless but, rather, has units of inverse length-squared, we have found it useful to also recast it in the following dimensionless form:
where,
and
In a separate discussion, we showed that specifically for isolated, polytropic configurations, this linear adiabatic wave equation (LAWE) can be rewritten as,
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where we have adopted the dimensionless frequency notation,
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Here we focus on an analysis of the specific case of isolated, polytropic configurations, whose unperturbed equilibrium structure can be prescribed in terms of analytic functions. Our hope — as yet unfulfilled — is that we can discover an analytically prescribed eigenvector solution to the governing LAWE.
Search for Analytic Solutions to the LAWE
Setup
From our derived structure of an n = 1 polytrope, in terms of the configuration's radius and mass , the central pressure and density are, respectively,
,
and
.
Hence the characteristic time and acceleration are, respectively,
and,
The required functions are,
- Density:
;
- Pressure:
;
- Gravitational acceleration:
So our desired Eigenvalues and Eigenvectors will be solutions to the following ODE:
or, replacing with and dividing the entire expression by , we have,
This is identical to the formulation of the wave equation that is relevant to the (n = 1) core of the composite polytrope studied by J. O. Murphy & R. Fiedler (1985b); for comparison, their expression is displayed, here, in the following boxed-in image.
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n = 1 Polytropic Formulation of Wave Equation as Presented by Murphy & Fiedler (1985b) |
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Material that appears after this point in our presentation is under development and therefore
may contain incorrect mathematical equations and/or physical misinterpretations.
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Attempt at Deriving an Analytic Eigenvector Solution
Multiplying the last expression through by gives,
where,
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The first two terms can be folded together to give,
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where, in order to make this next-to-last step, we have recognized that,
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It would seem that the eigenfunction, , should be expressible in terms of trigonometric functions and powers of ; indeed, it appears as though the expression governing this eigenfunction would simplify considerably if . With this in mind, we have made some attempts to guess the exact form of the eigenfunction. Here is one such attempt.
First Guess (n1)
Let's try,
which means,
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Does this satisfy the governing expression? Let's see. The right-and-side (RHS) gives:
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RHS |
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At the same time, the left-hand-side (LHS) may, quite generically, be written as:
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LHS |
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Putting the two sides together therefore gives,
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[Comment from J. E. Tohline on 6 April 2015: I'm not sure what else to make of this.]
Second Guess (n1)
Adopting the generic rewriting of the LHS, and leaving the RHS fully generic as well, we have,
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[Comment from J. E. Tohline on 6 April 2015: I'm not sure what else to make of this.]
Third Guess (n1)
Let's rewrite the polytropic (n = 1) wave equation as follows:
It is difficult to determine what term in the adiabatic wave equation will cancel the term involving because its leading coefficient is and no other term contains a power of that is higher than two. After thinking through various trial eigenvector expressions, , I have determined that a function of the following form has a chance of working because the second derivative of the function generates a leading factor of while the function itself does not introduce any additional factors of into the term that contains :
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[Comment from J. E. Tohline on 9 April 2015: I'm not sure what else to make of this.]
[Additional comment from J. E. Tohline on 15 April 2015: It is perhaps worth mentioning that there is a similarity between the argument of the trigonometric function being used in this "third guess" and the Lane-Emden function derived by Srivastava for polytropes; and also a similarity between Srivastava's function and the functional form of the LHS that we constructed, above, in connection with our "second guess."]
Fourth Guess (n1)
Again, working with the polytropic (n = 1) wave equation written in the following form,
Now, let's try:
which means,
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The LHS of the wave equation then becomes,
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LHS |
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See Also
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Appendices: | VisTrailsEquations | VisTrailsVariables | References | Ramblings | VisTrailsImages | myphys.lsu | ADS | |