Evolution Of Star Clusters Research Articles

Formation of Stellar Streams Due to the Decay of Star Clusters, OB Associations, and Galaxy Satellites

This paper presents a scenario of the evolution of OB associations and star clusters from formation to decay, in the process of which they turn into stellar streams moving in the disk and stellar “rings” around the galactic center. The scenario also includes the formation of stellar streams by galaxies absorbing their dwarf satellite galaxies. The simplest spatial kinematic models of evolution are constructed. It is shown that the stellar structures that appear in the models are similar to the observed stellar streams.

N-body Simulation of a Young Open Cluster

The evolutionary process of young clusters remains unclear. In order to investigate the detailed dynamical evolution of star clusters, this paper simulates a young open cluster to tens of million years, via a reliable N-body simulation code. The dynamical interactions among stars, and stellar evolution of both single and bianry stars have been taken into account. The position, velocity, effective temperature, luminosity, radius and mass of each star are finally calculated at different ages. It is shown that the size of simulated cluster increases with time. The size evolution of cluster is found to depend on the initial velocities of stars. Therefore, to determine the initial states of clusters is of key importance in the simulation of star clusters. The paralell computing technique is also tested by this simulation. The result shows that the computation speed is enhanced by six times when taking 8-core paralell computation instead of 1-core computation.

The effects of a background potential in star cluster evolution

Runaway stellar collisions in dense star clusters are invoked to explain the presence of very massive stars or blue stragglers in the center of those systems. This process has also been explored for the first star clusters in the Universe and shown to yield stars that may collapse at some points into an intermediate mass black hole. Although the early evolution of star clusters requires the explicit modeling of the gas out of which the stars form, these calculations would be extremely time-consuming and often the effects of the gas can be accurately treated by including a background potential to account for the extra gravitational force. We apply this approximation to model the early evolution of the first dense star clusters formed in the Universe by performingN-body simulations, our goal is to understand how the additional gravitational force affects the growth of a very massive star through stellar mergers in the central parts of the star cluster. Our results show that the background potential increases the velocities of the stars, causing an overall delay in the evolution of the clusters and in the runaway growth of a massive star at the center. The population of binary stars is lower due to the increased kinetic energy of the stars, initially reducing the number of stellar collisions, and we show that relaxation processes are also affected. Despite these effects, the external potential enhances the mass of the merger product by a factor ∼2 if the collisions are maintained for long times.

High angular resolution study of the super star cluster population in IRAS 17138−1017

Aims. Currently, the global characteristics and evolution of super star clusters (SSCs) are not well understood, due to the large distances to their host galaxies. We aim to study the population of SSCs in IRAS 17138-1017, a luminous infrared galaxy (LIRG), in terms of age, extinction, mass, and luminosity distribution. Methods. We analyzed imaging data in the near-infrared from the GeMS/GSAOI instrument on the Gemini telescope and generated simulations with the radiative transfer code MontAGN. The extraction of SSCs from the images and their photometry in J, H, and Ks allowed us to derive color-color and color-magnitude diagrams. Comparison with a theoretical stellar evolutionary track gives a first hint into the extinction towards each SSC, as well as their ages, despite some degeneracy between those two quantities. Spectra given by our radiative transfer code MontAGN, which includes dust emission, also provide insightful predictions and comparisons. Results. We detect with a fair degree of confidence 54 SSCs of mKs between 16 mag and 21 mag with a median instrumental uncertainty of 0.05 mag. When plotted on a color–color diagram and a color–magnitude diagram, it appears that most of the sources are very much extinct with respect to an intrinsic theoretical evolutionary track. Once de-reddened, the colors point unambiguously to two distinct and very recent starburst episodes at 2.8 and 4.5 Myr. While the SSCs in the 4.5 Myr starburst are distributed along the spiral arms, the 2.8 Myr SSCs are concentrated in the central region. The luminosity and mass functions present a classical power-law behavior, although with shallower slopes than generally observed in LIRGs. Comparison with radiative transfer simulations shows that, the dust thermal emission and scattered light are negligible and could not explain the few very red SSCs that could not be de-reddened safely.

The Physics of Star Cluster Formation and Evolution

Star clusters form in dense, hierarchically collapsing gas clouds. Bulk kinetic energy is transformed to turbulence with stars forming from cores fed by filaments. In the most compact regions, stellar feedback is least effective in removing the gas and stars may form very efficiently. These are also the regions where, in high-mass clusters, ejecta from some kind of high-mass stars are effectively captured during the formation phase of some of the low mass stars and effectively channeled into the latter to form multiple populations. Star formation epochs in star clusters are generally set by gas flows that determine the abundance of gas in the cluster. We argue that there is likely only one star formation epoch after which clusters remain essentially clear of gas by cluster winds. Collisional dynamics is important in this phase leading to core collapse, expansion and eventual dispersion of every cluster. We review recent developments in the field with a focus on theoretical work.

Merger rate density of binary black holes formed in open clusters

ABSTRACT Several binary black holes (BBHs) have been observed using gravitational wave detectors. For the formation mechanism of BBHs, two main mechanisms, isolated binary evolution and dynamical formation in dense star clusters, have been suggested. Future observations are expected to provide more information about BBH distributions, and it will help us to distinguish the two formation mechanisms. For the star cluster channel, globular clusters have mainly been investigated. However, recent simulations have suggested that BBH formation in open clusters is not negligible. We estimate a local merger rate density of BBHs originated from open clusters using the results of our N-body simulations of open clusters with four different metallicities. We find that the merger rate per cluster is the highest for our 0.1 solar metallicity model. Assuming a cosmic star formation history and a metallicity evolution with dispersion, we estimate the local merger rate density of BBHs originated from open clusters to be ∼70 yr−1 Gpc−3. This value is comparable to the merger rate density expected from the first and second observation runs of LIGO and Virgo. In addition, we find that BBH mergers obtained from our simulations can reproduce the distribution of primary mass and mass ratio of merging BBHs estimated from the LIGO and Virgo observations.

Random fragmentation of turbulent molecular clouds lying in the central region of giant galaxies

A stochastic model of fragmentation of molecular clouds has been developed for studying the resulting Initial Mass Function (IMF) where the number of fragments, inter-occurrence time of fragmentation, masses and velocities of the fragments are random variables. Here two turbulent patterns of the velocities of the fragments have been considered, namely, Gaussian and Gamma distributions. It is found that for Gaussian distribution of the turbulent velocity, the IMFs are shallower in general compared to Salpeter mass function. On the contrary, a skewed distribution for turbulent velocity leads to an IMF which is much closer to Salpeter mass function. The above result might be due to the fact that strong driving mechanisms e.g. shocks, arising out of a big explosion occurring at the centre of the galaxy or due to big number of supernova explosions occurring simultaneously in massive parent clouds during the evolution of star clusters embedded into them are responsible for stripping out most of the gas from the clouds. This inhibits formation of massive stars in large numbers making the mass function a steeper one.

The Next Generation Fornax Survey (NGFS): VII. A MUSE view of the nuclear star clusters in Fornax dwarf galaxies

ABSTRACT Clues to the formation and evolution of nuclear star clusters (NSCs) lie in their stellar populations. However, these structures are often very faint compared to their host galaxy, and spectroscopic analysis of NSCs is hampered by contamination of light from the rest of the system. With the introduction of wide-field integral field unit (IFU) spectrographs, new techniques have been developed to model the light from different components within galaxies, making it possible to cleanly extract the spectra of the NSCs and study their properties with minimal contamination from the light of the rest of the galaxy. This work presents the analysis of the NSCs in a sample of 12 dwarf galaxies in the Fornax Cluster observed with the Multi-Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE). Analysis of the stellar populations and star formation histories reveal that all the NSCs show evidence of multiple episodes of star formation, indicating that they have built up their mass further since their initial formation. The NSCs were found to have systematically lower metallicities than their host galaxies, which is consistent with a scenario for mass assembly through mergers with infalling globular clusters, whilst the presence of younger stellar populations and gas emission in the core of two galaxies is indicative of in-situ star formation. We conclude that the NSCs in these dwarf galaxies likely originated as globular clusters that migrated to the core of the galaxy that have built up their mass mainly through mergers with other infalling clusters, with gas-inflow leading to in-situ star formation playing a secondary role.

On the early evolution of massive star clusters: the case of cloud D1 and its embedded cluster in NGC 5253

ABSTRACT We discuss a theoretical model for the early evolution of massive star clusters and confront it with the ALMA, radio, and infrared observations of the young stellar cluster highly obscured by the molecular cloud D1 in the nearby dwarf spheroidal galaxy NGC 5253. We show that a large turbulent pressure in the central zones of D1 cluster may cause individual wind-blown bubbles to reach pressure confinement before encountering their neighbours. In this case, stellar winds energy is added to the hot shocked wind pockets of gas around individual massive stars that leads them to meet and produce a cluster wind in time-scales less than 105 yr. In order to inhibit the possibility of cloud dispersal, or the early negative star formation feedback, one should account for mass loading that may come, for example, from pre-main-sequence (PMS) low-mass stars through photoevaporation of their protostellar discs. Mass loading at a rate in excess of 8 × 10−9 M⊙ yr−1 per each PMS star is required to extend the hidden star cluster phase in this particular cluster. In this regime, the parental cloud remains relatively unperturbed, while pockets of molecular, photoionized and hot gas coexist within the star-forming region. Nevertheless, the most likely scenario for cloud D1 and its embedded cluster is that the hot shocked winds around individual massive stars should merge at an age of a few million of years when the PMS star protostellar discs vanish and mass loading ceases that allows a cluster to form a global wind.

The “dynamical clock”: dating the internal dynamical evolution of star clusters with Blue Straggler Stars

We discuss the observational properties of a special class of objects (the so-called "Blue Straggler Stars", BSSs) in the framework of using this stellar population as probe of the dynamical processes occurring in high-density stellar systems. Indeed, the shape of the BSS radial distribution and their level of central concentration are powerful tracers of the stage of dynamical evolution reached by the host cluster since formation. Hence, they can be used as empirical chronometers able to measure the dynamical age of stellar systems. In addition, the presence of a double BSS sequence in the color-magnitude diagram is likely the signature of the most extreme dynamical process occurring in globular cluster life: the core collapse event. Such a feature can therefore be used to reveal the occurrence of this process and, for the first time, even date it.

Metal-poor nuclear star clusters in two dwarf galaxies near Centaurus A suggesting formation from the in-spiraling of globular clusters

Studies of nucleated dwarf galaxies can constrain the scenarios for the formation and evolution of nuclear star clusters (NSC) in low-mass galaxies and give us insights on the origin of ultra compact dwarf galaxies (UCDs). We report the discovery of a NSC in the dwarf galaxy KKs58 and investigate its properties together with those of another NSC in KK197. Both NSCs are hosted by dwarf elliptical galaxies of the Centaurus group. Combining ESO VLT MUSE data with photometry from VLT FORS2, CTIO Blanco DECam, and HST ACS, as well as high-resolution spectroscopy from VLT UVES, we analyse the photometric, kinematic and stellar population properties of the NSCs and their host galaxies. We confirm membership of the NSCs based on their radial velocities and location close to the galaxy centres. We also confirm the membership of two globular clusters (GCs) and detect oblate rotation in the main body of KK197. Based on high signal-to-noise spectra taken with MUSE of the NSCs of both KKs58 and KK197 we measure low metallicities, [Fe/H] = −1.75 ± 0.06 dex and [Fe/H] = −1.84 ± 0.05 dex, and stellar masses of 7.3 × 105 M⊙ and 1.0 × 106 M⊙, respectively. Both NSCs are more metal-poor than their hosts that have metallicities of −1.35 ± 0.23 dex (KKs58) and −0.84 ± 0.12 dex (KK197). This can be interpreted as NSC formation via the in-spiral of GCs. The masses, sizes and metallicities of the two NSCs place them among other NSCs, but also among the known UCDs of the Centaurus group. This indicates that NSCs might constitute the progenitors of a part of the low-mass UCDs, although their properties are almost indistinguishable from typical GCs.

Population synthesis of black hole binary mergers from star clusters

ABSTRACT Black hole (BH) binary mergers formed through dynamical interactions in dense star clusters are believed to be one of the main sources of gravitational waves (GWs) for Advanced LIGO and Virgo. Here, we present a fast numerical method for simulating the evolution of star clusters with BHs, including a model for the dynamical formation and merger of BH binaries. Our method is based on Hénon’s principle of balanced evolution, according to which the flow of energy within a cluster must be balanced by the energy production inside its core. Because the heat production in the core is powered by the BHs, one can then link the evolution of the cluster to the evolution of its BH population. This allows us to construct evolutionary tracks of the cluster properties including its BH population and its effect on the cluster and, at the same time, determine the merger rate of BH binaries as well as their eccentricity distributions. The model is publicly available and includes the effects of a BH mass spectrum, mass-loss due to stellar evolution, the ejection of BHs due to natal and dynamical kicks, and relativistic corrections during binary–single encounters. We validate our method using direct N-body simulations, and find it to be in excellent agreement with results from recent Monte Carlo models of globular clusters. This establishes our new method as a robust tool for the study of BH dynamics in star clusters and the modelling of GW sources produced in these systems. Finally, we compute the rate and eccentricity distributions of merging BH binaries for a wide range of cluster initial conditions, spanning more than two orders of magnitude in mass and radius.

Super Hot Cores in NGC 253: witnessing the formation and early evolution of super star clusters

ABSTRACT Using 0.2 arcsec (∼3 pc) ALMA images of vibrationally excited HC3N emission (HC3N*) we reveal the presence of eight unresolved Super Hot Cores (SHCs) in the inner 160 pc of NGC 253. Our LTE and non-LTE modelling of the HC3N* emission indicate that SHCs have dust temperatures of 200–375 K, relatively high H2 densities of (1−6) × 106 cm−3 and high IR luminosities of (0.1–1) × 108 L⊙. As expected from their short-lived phase (∼104 yr), all SHCs are associated with young super star clusters (SSCs). We use the ratio of luminosities from the SHCs (protostar phase) and from the free–free emission (ZAMS star phase), to establish the evolutionary stage of the SSCs. The youngest SSCs, with the larges ratios, have ages of a few 104 yr (proto-SSCs) and the more evolved SSCs are likely between 105 and 106 yr (ZAMS-SSCs). The different evolutionary stages of the SSCs are also supported by the radiative feedback from the UV radiation as traced by the HNCO/CS ratio, with this ratio being systematically higher in the young proto-SSCs than in the older ZAMS-SSCs. We also estimate the SFR and the SFE of the SSCs. The trend found in the estimated SFE ($\sim 40{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ for proto-SSCs and $\gt 85{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ for ZAMS-SSCs) and in the gas mass reservoir available for star formation, one order of magnitude higher for proto-SSCs, suggests that star formation is still going on in proto-SSCs. We also find that the most evolved SSCs are located, in projection, closer to the centre of the galaxy than the younger proto-SSCs, indicating an inside-out SSC formation scenario.

The survival of star clusters with black hole subsystems

Abstract Recent observations have detected top-heavy IMFs in dense star forming regions like the Arches cluster. Whether such IMFs also exist in old dense stellar systems like globular clusters is difficult to constrain, because massive stars already became black holes (BHs) and neutron stars (NSs). However, studies of stellar dynamics find that BHs/NSs influence the long-term evolution of star clusters. Following Breen & Heggie (2013) and by carrying out two-component N-body simulations, we demonstrate how this dynamical impact connects with the shape of IMFs. By investigating the energy balance between the BH subsystem and the global, we find that to properly describe the evolution of clusters, a corrected two-body relaxation time, Trh, p = Trh/ψ, is necessary. Because ψ depends on the total mass fraction of BHs, M2/M, and the mass ratio, m2/m1, the cluster dissolution time is sensitive to the property of BHs or IMFs. Especially, the escape rate of BHs via ejections from few-body encounters are linked to mass segregation. In strong tidal fields, top-heavy IMFs easily lead to the fast dissolution of star clusters and the formation of BH-dominant dark clusters, which suggests that the observed massive GCs with dense cores are unlikely to have extreme top-heavy IMFs. With the future observations of gravitational waves providing unique information of BHs/NSs, it is possible to combine the multi-message observations to have better constrains on the IMFs of old star clusters.

Periodic Orbits of N Bodies on a Sphere

Gravitational interactions of N bodies are considered, which form a structure distributed over a sphere. A method and program for creating such structures are developed based on an exact solution to the problem of the axisymmetric interaction of N bodies. Studies on creating the structures are conducted, and their dynamics and evolution are investigated. On this basis, the dynamics and evolution of globular star clusters are explained.

Double degenerate candidates in the open cluster NGC 6633

AbstractThe study of white dwarfs, the end stage of stellar evolution for more than 95% of stars, is critical to bettering our understanding of the late stages of the lives of low mass stars. In particular, the post main sequence evolution of binary star systems is complex, and the identification and analysis of double degenerate systems is a crucial step in constraining models of binary star systems. Binary white dwarfs in open star clusters are particularly useful because cluster parameters such as distance, metal content, and total system age are more tightly constrained than for field double degenerates. Here we use the precision astrometry from the Gaia Data Release 2 catalog to study two other white dwarfs which were identified as candidate double degenerates in the field of the open star cluster NGC 6633. One of the two objects, LAWDS 4, is found to have astrometric properties fully consistent with that of the cluster. In such a case, the object is significantly overluminous for a single white dwarf, strongly indicating binarity. The second candidate binary, LAWDS 7, appears to be inconsistent with cluster membership, though a more thorough analysis is necessary to properly quantify the probability. At present we are proceeding to model the photometric and spectroscopic data for both objects as if they were cluster member double degenerates. Results of this latter analysis are forthcoming. Our results will add crucial data to the study of binary star evolution in open star clusters.

Modelling the Effects of Dark Matter Substructure on Globular Cluster Evolution with the Tidal Approximation

Abstract We present direct N-body simulations of tidally filling 30,000 M⊙ star clusters orbiting between 10 kpc and 100 kpc in galaxies with a range of dark matter substructure properties. The time-dependent tidal force is determined based on the combined tidal tensor of the galaxy’s smooth and clumpy dark matter components, the latter of which causes fluctuations in the tidal field that can heat clusters. The strength and duration of these fluctuations are sensitive to the local dark matter density, substructure fraction, sub-halo mass function, and the sub-halo mass-size relation. Based on the cold dark matter framework, we initially assume sub-halos are Hernquist spheres following a power-law mass function between 105 and 1011M⊙ and find that tidal fluctuations are too weak and too short to affect star cluster evolution. Treating sub-halos as point masses, to explore how denser sub-halos affect clusters, we find that only sub-halos with masses greater than 106M⊙ will cause cluster dissolution times to decrease. These interactions can also decrease the size of a cluster while increasing the velocity dispersion and tangential anisotropy in the outer regions via tidal heating. Hence increased fluctuations in the tidal tensor, especially fluctuations that are due to low-mass halos, do not necessarily translate into mass loss. We further conclude that the tidal approximation can be used to model cluster evolution in the tidal fields of cosmological simulations with a minimum cold dark matter sub-halo mass of 106M⊙, as the effect of lower-mass sub-halos on star clusters is negligible.

Massive star cluster formation and evolution in tidal dwarf galaxies

Context. The formation of globular clusters remains an open debate. Dwarf starburst galaxies are efficient at forming young massive clusters with similar masses as globular clusters and may hold the key to understanding their formation. Aims. We study star cluster formation in a tidal debris, including the vicinity of three tidal dwarf galaxies, in a massive gas-dominated collisional ring around NGC 5291. These dwarfs have physical parameters that differ significantly from local starbursting dwarfs. They are gas rich, highly turbulent, their gas metallicity is already enriched up to half solar values, and they are expected to be free of dark matter. The aim is to study massive star cluster formation in this as yet unexplored type of environment. Methods. We used imaging from the Hubble Space Telescope using broadband filters that cover the wavelength range from the near-ultraviolet to the near-infrared. We determined the masses and ages of the cluster candidates by using the spectral energy distribution-fitting code CIGALE. We considered age-extinction degeneracy effects on the estimation of the physical parameters. Results. We find that the tidal dwarf galaxies in the ring of NGC 5291 are forming star clusters with an average efficiency of ∼40%, which is similar to blue compact dwarf galaxies. We also find massive star clusters for which the photometry suggests that they were formed at the very birth of the tidal dwarf galaxies. These clusters have survived for several hundred million years. Therefore our study shows that extended tidal dwarf galaxies and compact clusters may be formed simultaneously. In the specific case observed here, the young star clusters are not massive enough to survive for a Hubble time. However, it may be speculated that similar objects at higher redshift, with a higher star formation rate, might form some of the long-lived globular clusters.

Mocca survey data base– i. Dissolution of tidally filling star clusters harbouring black hole subsystems

We investigate the dissolution process for dynamically evolving star clusters embedded in an external tidal field by exploring the MOCCA Survey Database I, with focus on the presence and evolution of a stellar-mass black hole subsystem. We argue that the presence of a black hole subsystem can lead to the dissolution of tidally filling star clusters and this can be regarded as a third type of cluster dissolution mechanism (in addition to well-known mechanisms connected with strong mass loss due to stellar evolution and mass loss connected with the relaxation process). This third process is characterized by abrupt cluster dissolution connected with the loss of dynamical equilibrium. The abrupt dissolution is powered by strong energy generation from a stellar-mass black hole subsystem accompanied by tidal stripping. Additionally, we argue that such a mechanism should also work for even tidally under-filling clusters with top-heavy initial mass function. Observationally, star clusters which undergo dissolution powered by the third mechanism would look as a 'dark cluster' i.e. composed of stellar mass black holes surrounded by an expanding halo of luminous stars (Banerjee & Kroupa 2011), and they should be different from 'dark clusters' harbouring intermediate mass black holes as discussed by Askar et al. (2017a). An additional observational consequence of an operation of the third dissolution mechanism should be a larger than expected abundance of free floating black holes in the Galactic halo.

The Quintuplet Cluster: Extended Structure and Tidal Radius

Abstract The Quintuplet star cluster is one of only three known young (<10 Myr) massive (M > 104 M ⊙) clusters within ∼100 pc of the Galactic center (GC). In order to explore star cluster formation and evolution in this extreme environment, we analyze the Quintuplet’s dynamical structure. Using the HST WFC3-IR instrument, we take astrometric and photometric observations of the Quintuplet covering a 120″ × 120″ field of view, which is 19 times larger than those of previous proper-motion studies of the Quintuplet. We generate a catalog of the Quintuplet region with multiband, near-infrared photometry, proper motions, and cluster membership probabilities for 10,543 stars. We present the radial density profile of 715 candidate Quintuplet cluster members with M ≳ 4.7 M ⊙ out to 3.2 pc from the cluster center. A 3σ lower limit of 3 pc is placed on the tidal radius, indicating the lack of a tidal truncation within this radius range. Only weak evidence for mass segregation is found, in contrast to the strong mass segregation found in the Arches cluster, a second and slightly younger massive cluster near the GC. It is possible that tidal stripping hampers a mass segregation signature, though we find no evidence of spatial asymmetry. Assuming that the Arches and Quintuplet clusters formed with comparable extent, our measurement of the Quintuplet’s comparatively large core radius of pc provides strong empirical evidence that young massive clusters in the GC dissolve on a several-megayear timescale.