Related papers: Dynamical friction in a gaseous medium with a larg…
Using time-dependent linear perturbation theory, we evaluate the dynamical friction force on a massive perturber M_p traveling at velocity V through a uniform gaseous medium of density rho_0 and sound speed c_s. This drag force acts in the…
Dynamical friction arises from the interaction of a perturber and the gravitational wake it excites in the ambient medium. This interaction is usually derived assuming that the perturber has a constant velocity. In realistic situations,…
The supersonic motion of gravitating objects through a gaseous medium constitutes a classical problem in theoretical astrophysics. Its application covers a broad range of objects and scales from planets up to galaxies. Especially the…
When a gravitating point mass moves subsonically through a magnetized and isothermal medium, the dynamical structure of the flow is studied far from the mass using a perturbation analysis. Analytical solutions for the first-order density…
An extended gravitational object embedded in a parent system comprised of gas and collisionless particles may undergo both dynamical friction (DF) and mass loss by tidal forces. If the object is compact enough, it can increase its mass…
Any gravitating mass traversing a relatively sparse gas experiences a retarding force created by its disturbance of the surrounding medium. In a previous contribution (Lee & Stahler 2011), we determined this dynamical friction force when…
The dynamical friction force experienced by a body moving at relativistic speed in a gaseous medium is examined. This force, which arises due to the gravitational interaction of the body with its own gravitationally-induced wake, is…
We investigate the gravitational wake due to, and dynamical friction on, a perturber moving on a circular orbit in a uniform gaseous medium using a semi-analytic method. This work is a straightforward extension of Ostriker (1999) who…
The drag force experienced by astronomical objects moving through gaseous media (gas dynamical friction) plays a crucial role in their orbital evolution. Ostriker (1999) derived a formula for gas dynamical friction by linear analysis, and…
The process of momentum and energy transfer between a massive body and a background medium it is moving through is known as dynamical friction (DF). It is key to our understanding of many astrophysical systems. We present a series of…
Using high-resolution, two-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations, we investigate nonlinear gravitational responses of gas to, and the resulting drag force on, a very massive perturber M_p moving at velocity V_p through a uniform gaseous…
We calculate the structure of a wake generated by, and the dynamical friction force on, a gravitational perturber travelling through a gaseous medium of uniform density and constant background acceleration g_ext, in the context of Modified…
When a gravitating object moves across a given mass distribution, it creates an overdense wake behind it. Here, we performed an analytical study of the structure of the flow far from object when the flow is isentropic and the object moves…
We study the force of dynamical friction acting on a gravitating point mass that travels through an extended, isothermal gas. This force is well established in the hypersonic limit, but remains less understood in the subsonic regime. Using…
Recent work has suggested that the net gravitational force acting on a massive and luminous perturber travelling through a gaseous and opaque medium can have same direction as the perturber's motion (an effect sometimes called negative…
We compute the dynamical friction on a small perturber moving through an inviscid fluid, i.e., a superfluid. Crucially, we account for the tachyonic gravitational mass for sound waves, reminiscent of the Jeans instability of the fluid,…
We consider the gravitational force exerted on a point-like perturber of mass $M$ travelling within a uniform gaseous, opaque medium at constant velocity $V$. The perturber irradiates the surrounding gas with luminosity $L$. The diffusion…
The dynamical friction experienced by a body moving in a gaseous medium is different from the friction in the case of a collisionless stellar system. Here we consider the orbital evolution of a gravitational perturber inside a gaseous…
Dynamical friction arises from the interaction of a perturber and the gravitational wake it excites in the ambient medium. We study the effects of the presence of a boundary on dynamical friction by studying analytically the interaction of…
The evolution of planets, stars and even galaxies is driven, to a large extent, by dynamical friction of gravitational origin. There is now a good understanding of the friction produced by extended media, either collisionless of fluid-like.…