Abstract:

Self-consistent field methods have been used to construct models of rapidly rotating or binary stars, in Newtonian and relativistic contexts. The choice of method has been based on numerical experiments, which indicate that particular methods converge quickly to a solution, while others diverge. The theory underlying these differences, however, has not been understood. In an attempt to provide a better theoretical understanding, we analytically examine the behavior of different iterative schemes near an exact static solution. We find the spectrum of the linearized iteration operator and show for self-consistent field methods that iterative instability corresponds to unstable modes of this operator. Minimizing the maximum eigenvalue accelerates convergence and allows computation of highly compact configurations that were previously inaccessible via
self-consistent field methods.