STATIC PERFECT FLUID CYLINDERS

The field equations for cylindrically symmetric perfect fluid models w ith a non-scale invariant equation of slate where the energy density i s linearly related to the pressure are rewritten as a set of first ord er coupled ordinary differential equations. Variables are chosen such that the resulting phase space is compact and everywhere regular. The dynamical systems approach, used in the past mainly for scale invarian t matter sources, is subsequently used to gain qualitative information about the space of solutions. It leads to a simple way of demonstrati ng the existence and properties of interior sources for cylindrically symmetric vacuum solutions. The models are shown to exhibit asymptotic scale invariance. (C) 1998 American Institute of Physics.