Shock Waves in Stellar Disks of Galaxies

Evgeny Griv
Physics, Ben-Gurion University

A rapidly rotating self-gravitating stellar disk of a flat galaxy, in which the sound speed (thermal velocity dispersion) is much

smaller than the orbital velocity, is considered. It is shown that such a disk exhibits collective, gravitationally unstable modes of

motion. The existence of shock waves in a system, with characteristic dimensions smaller than the stellar mean free path, is

demonstrated.

 









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