We present an analytic description of the spherically symmetric gravitational collapse of radiatively cooling gas clouds, which illustrates the mechanism by which radiative cooling induces gravitational instability at a characteristic mass scale determined by the microphysics of the gas. The approach is based on developing the "one-zone" density-temperature relationship of the gas into a full dynamical model. We convert this density-temperature relationship into a barotropic equation of state, which we use to calculate the density and velocity profiles of the gas. From these quantities, we calculate the time-dependent mass accretion rate onto the center of the cloud. The approach clarifies the mechanism by which radiative cooling induces gravitational instability. In particular, we distinguish the rapid, quasi-equilibrium contraction of a cooling gas core to high central densities from the legitimate instability this contraction establishes in the envelope. We develop a refined criterion for the mass scale of this instability, based only on the chemical-thermal evolution in the core. We explicate our model in the context of a primordial mini-halo cooled by molecular hydrogen, and then provide two further examples, a delayed collapse with hydrogen deuteride cooling and the collapse of an atomic cooling halo. In all three cases, we show that our results agree well with full hydrodynamical treatments.
Cool-Core Destruction in Merging Clusters with AGN Feedback and Radiative Cooling
National Taiwan University（台湾大学）；California Institute of Technology（加州理工学院）；National Tsing Hua University（清华大学）；National Center for Theoretical Sciences（国家理论科学中心）；Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics（哈佛-史密松天体物理中心）；University of Modena and Reggio Emilia（摩德纳和雷焦艾米利亚大学）
Radiative Cooling II: Effects of Density and Metallicity
This work follows Lykins et al. discussion of classic plasma cooling function at low density and solar metallicity. Here we focus on how the cooling function changes over a wide range of density (n_H<10^12 cm^(-3)) and metallicity (Z<30Z _sun ). We find that high densities enhance the ionization of elements such as hydrogen and helium until they reach local thermodynamic equilibrium. By charge transfer, the metallicity changes the ionization of hydrogen when it is partially ionized. We describe the total cooling function as a sum of four parts: those due to H&He, the heavy elements, electron-e…
