Phase transitions in self-gravitating systems and bacterial populations with a screened attractive potential
Statistical Mechanics
2013-05-29 v1
Abstract
We consider a system of particles interacting via a screened Newtonian potential and study phase transitions between homogeneous and inhomogeneous states in the microcanonical and canonical ensembles. Like for other systems with long-range interactions, we obtain a great diversity of microcanonical and canonical phase transitions depending on the dimension of space and on the importance of the screening length. We also consider a system of particles in Newtonian interaction in the presence of a ``neutralizing background''. By a proper interpretation of the parameters, our study describes (i) self-gravitating systems in a cosmological setting, and (ii) chemotaxis of bacterial populations in the original Keller-Segel model.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1001.1942,
title = {Phase transitions in self-gravitating systems and bacterial populations with a screened attractive potential},
author = {P. H. Chavanis and L. Delfini},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1001.1942},
year = {2013}
}