Similarity between the structure and stability of isothermal and polytropic gas spheres

As shown by Chiéze, polytropic gas spheres imbedded in an ambient medium with a given pressure exhibit a relation between the mass and radius similar to isothermal gas spheres, providedn(polytropic index)>3 or <–1. Here, further investigation is made of the polytropic spheres. Not only the relation between radius and external pressure, but the relation between the central density ( _c ) and the mass (M) is similar to isothermal spheres and neutron star models. Dynamical calculation shows that the stability of polytropic spheres is lost at the configuration which corresponds to the first peak in the _c —M relation, as is the case for neutron star models in general relativity.