Expanding gas clouds of ellipsoidal shape -- the solutions of minimal energy (Q1809401)

\textit{L. V. Ovsyannikov} [Trudy II vsesojuzn. S'ezda teor. priklad. Meh., Obzorn. Dokl. 2, 302-305 (1965; Zbl 0237.76043)] and \textit{F. J. Dyson} [J. Math. Mech. 18, 91-101 (1968; Zbl 0197.24501)] have proposed a model of an ellipsoidal gas cloud adiabatically expanding into vacuum, and have shown that the equations of fluid motion can be reduced to a set of ordinary differential equations, of order 18 in the most general case. The author [\textit{B. Gaffet}, J. Fluid Mech. 325, 113-144 (1996; Zbl 0891.76076)] has shown that their integration reduces to quadratures (if the gas is monatomic, and there is no rotational motion of ellipsoid's principal axes), as a result of existence of two integrals of motion, \(m\) and \(I_{2}\). In the present work the author finds the minimum value \(m_{0}(I_{2})\) of \(m\), compatible with the existence of physically meaningful solutions. It is shown that in this case, the general solution of equations of motion can be described by elliptic functions.