Self-gravitating cooling flows

We investigate self-gravitating, power law (rho(2)T(lambda)) cooling flows using self-similar analyses and one-dimensional hydrodynamical simulations. The evolutions from the early transitional to the steady state are examined with a breadth of initial conditions. The temperature of the central cooling gas increases with time due to strong gravitational compression. For lambda less than or equal to -0.5 with long central cooling times, the evolution follows the self-similar solution; whereas for lambda > -0.5, cooling catastrophe always takes place. We find that self-gravity is a natural way to prevent cooling catastrophe in the dynamics of cluster cooling flows.