Nonlinear pulsations and stability of rapidly rotating columns

In this note we discuss the influence of a large angular momentum on nonlinear axisymmetric motions of centrally condensed bodies. In order to illustrate the problem we consider finite-amplitude pulsations of rapidly rotating columns. An analysis involving the virial theorem gives an approximate description of adiabatic radial motions. It is shown that nonlinearity lessens the stabilizing influence of angular momentum predicted in a linear stability analysis.