Kinetic Theory and the Mechanics of Isothermal Gas Spheres: Derivation of the Classical Emden--Chandrasekhar Equation via the Vlasov--Poisson Formalism

Steven D Miller

We present a derivation of the mechanics of isothermal gas spheres directly from the Vlasov--Poisson equation. By extremising the Boltzmann entropy, we obtain the Maxwell--Boltzman…