Seminar
Using kinetic theory to model galaxies: an overview of the Vlasov-Poisson system

Abstract

The Vlasov-Poisson system is the mean field limit of the classical N-body problem as N goes to infinity. First considered in plasma physics, it has been also used as an approach to describe self-gravitating systems. We will review the basic properties of this model, examine its catalog of stationary solutions and discuss its usefulness to describe galaxies.