The Instability of the Collapse of a Self-Gravitating Gas Cloud.

C. Hunter

The Astrophysical Journal · 1962 · 110 citations · 0 references

Concepts

Abstract

This paper presents a hydrodynamic description of the fragmentation of a model of a spherically symmetric gas cloud. It is supposed that this cloud becomes unstable with respect to its own gravitation and begins to condense. The symmetric condensing motion of the cloud is shown to be dynamically unstable and to lead to fairly distinct regions of high density forming in the cloud.