Etudes on the Dynamics of Stellar Systems

TL;DR

This paper provides a comprehensive translation and analysis of Prof. Kuzmin's 1970 thesis on stellar system dynamics, including new appendices and English summaries of key papers, offering insights into gravitational potential, stellar motion, and system evolution.

Contribution

It presents the first English translation of Kuzmin's thesis with additional appendices and new insights into stellar dynamics and gravitational potential.

Findings

Analysis of the gravitational potential and mass distribution of the Galaxy

Discussion of the third integral of stellar motion

Investigation of the time evolution of stellar systems

Abstract

This arXiv submission is a translation of the Dr Sci Thesis by Prof Grigori Kuzmin, written in Russian and defended in 1970. The Thesis based on Kuzmin's papers was written in Russian and published in Tartu Observatory Publications or Russian-language conference proceedings. But for the Thesis G. Kuzmin wrote extras, which are published here for the first time. Most chapters of the Thesis were translated in full. In some chapters, we used the English summaries written by Kuzmin. We add as appendix English translations of three papers, written by Kuzmin after the defence of the Thesis, one of them published here also the first time. The Thesis consists of three parts. Part I is "Gravitational potential and mass distribution of the Galaxy. The third integral of stellar motion" and consists of 10 chapters. Part II is "Spatio-kinematical structure of self-gravitating stationary stellar systems and some general problems of dynamics of stellar systems" and consists of 6 chapters. Part III is "Time evolution of the structure of stellar systems. The effect of irregular forces" and consists of 6 chapters. In Appendix, three later articles were included. Present translation starts with the preface by Prof. Jaan Einasto.