On the Relativistic Collapse of Dense Star Clusters

Abstract

We investigate the fate of a relativistic star cluster with a dense core which is undergoing a gravothermal catastrophe and is far from thermodynamic equilibrium. Nonlinear cooperative contributions are included in the standard transport equations for the last stage of evolution of a highly dense core of stellar remnants. We find that the core redshift does not necessarily increase without limit as the core becomes increasingly dense, preventing collapse to a black hole. In particular, the redshift can remain less than the critical value for relativistic collapse, resulting in a stable, massive dark core with a Newtonian mantle and halo.

19 pages RevTex (latex)