Parameters of core collapse

This paper considers the phenomenon of deep core collapse in collisional stellar systems, with stars of equal mass. The collapse takes place on some multiple, ξ−1, of the central relaxation time, and produces a density profile in which ρ ∝ r−α, where α is a constant. The parameters α and ξ have usually been determined from simplified models, such as gas and Fokker-Planck models, often with the simplification of isotropy. Here we determine the parameters directly from N-body simulations carried out using the newly completed GRAPE-6.