Origin of scaling structure and non-gaussian velocity distribution in self-gravitating ring model

Abstract

Fractal structures and non-Gaussian velocity distributions are characteristic properties commonly observed in virialized self-gravitating systems such as galaxies or interstellar molecular clouds. We study the origin of these properties using the one-dimensional ring model which we newly propose in this paper. In this simple model, $N$ particles are moving, on a circular ring fixed in the three dimensional space, with mutual interaction of gravity. This model is suitable for accurate symplectic integration method by which we find the phase transition in this system from extended-phase to collapsed-phase through an interesting phase (\halo-phase) which has negative specific heat. In this intermediate energy scale, there appear scaling properties, non-thermal and non-Gaussian velocity distributions. In contrast, these peculiar properties are never observed in other \gas and \core phases. Particles in each phase have typical time scales of motion determined by the cutoff length $ξ$, the ring radius $R$ and the total energy $E$. Thus all relaxation patterns of the system are determined by these three time scales.