Thermodynamics of a one-dimensional gravitational gas (1DGG) in a uniform external field

Abstract

There has been much interest in the study of many-body system with gravitational interactions. The primary motivation for these studies has been the desire to understand the large-scale structure of the universe. Another motivation for these studies is that these systems offer an opportunity to re-study basic aspects of statistical mechanics and thermodynamics.
Various model systems have been investigated in order to understand many aspects of the behavior of large-scale structures using many different approaches. Examples of model gravitational systems that have been studied include three-dimensional systems with a softened potential, spherically symmetric three-dimensional systems, two-dimensional systems both with cylindrical and without cylindrical symmetry and one-dimensional systems.
One problematic aspect of the physics of many-body systems with gravitational interactions has to do with their equilibrium thermodynamics. Miller and Rybicki pointed out that the thermodynamics of self-gravitating may be counterintuitive. A great part of our intuition about the behavior of many-body systems has been acquired from what is known about systems with short-range interactions − because of this it is not unreasonable to ask how the thermodynamics of systems with long-range interactions is different.