Trajectory Dynamics of Gas Molecules and Galaxy Formation

TL;DR

This paper models the velocity distribution of gas molecules and compares it to stellar velocities during galaxy formation, revealing similarities in their energy and momentum exchange processes.

Contribution

It introduces an exact model of an ideal gas and applies it to galaxy formation, bridging kinetic theory and astrophysics in a novel way.

Findings

Derived an exact velocity distribution model for an ideal gas.

Compared molecular velocity distributions with stellar velocities in galaxy formation.

Highlighted similarities in energy and momentum exchange processes.

Abstract

The probability distribution of the velocity of gas molecules in a closed container is described by the kinetic theory of gases. When molecules collide or impact the walls of a container, they exchange energy and momentum in accordance with Newton's laws of motion. Between collisions, the trajectory of individual molecules is a straight line, neglecting gravity. During the formation of a galaxy, the stars are constrained to a region of space and exchange energy and momentum in a manner similar to molecules. In this paper, an exact model of an ideal gas is derived and analyzed to determine the probability distribution of the molecular velocities, which are then compared with the probability distribution of velocities associated with stars during galaxy formation.