No CrossRef data available.
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 August 2015
The study of gravitating systems of colliding particles has many potential astrophysical applications, for instance the dynamics of Saturn's ring, the formation of the solar system, the flattening of protogalaxies and the evolution of galactic nuclei. We consider numerically a three-dimensional system of particles moving in the gravitational field of a central mass point and interacting through inelastic collisions. After a very fast flattening, the system forms a disc of finite thickness: this disc spreads slowly, and collisions still occur. A central condensation is formed and there is an outward flux of angular momentum. The energy which is continually lost in the inelastic collisions is obtained at the expense of the bodies which fall inwards.