We investigate a model describing the dynamics of a gas of self-gravitating Brownian particles. This model can also have applications for the chemotaxis of bacterial populations. We focus here on the collapse phase obtained at sufficiently low temperature/energy and on the post-collapse regime following the singular time where the central density diverges. Several analytical results are illustrated by numerical simulations.
We develop the analogy between self-gravitating Brownian particles and bacterial populations. In the high friction limit, the self-gravitating Brownian gas is described by the Smoluchowski-Poisson system. These equations can develop a self-similar collapse leading to a finite time singularity. Coincidentally, the Smoluchowski-Poisson system corresponds to a simplified version of the Keller-Segel model of bacterial populations. In this biological context, it describes the chemotactic aggregation...
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