Dynamical friction in spherical systems

Abstract

The authors investigate dynamical friction on a test object (such as a bar or satellite) which rotates or revolves through a spherical stellar system. They find that frictional effects arise entirely from near-resonant stars and they derive an analog to Chandrasekhar's dynamical friction formula which applies to spherical systems. The authors show that a formula of this type is valid so long as the angular speed of the test object changes sufficiently rapidly. If the angular speed is slowly changing two new effects appear: a reversible dynamical feedback which can stabilize or destabilize the rotation speed, and permanent capture of near-resonant stars into librating orbits. The authors discuss orbital decay of satellites in the light of these results.