Dynamical Evolutions in Globular Clusters and Dwarf Galaxies: Conduction Fluid Simulations
Abstract
We present a new two-fluid conduction scheme to simulate the evolution of an isolated, self-gravitating, equilibrium cluster of stars and collisionless dark matter on secular (gravothermal) timescales. We integrate the equations in Lagrangian coordinates via a second-order, semi-implicit algorithm, which is unconditionally stable when the mass of the lighter species is much less than that of the heavier species. The method can be straightforwardly generalized to handle a multi-species system with a population of stars or components beyond collisionless dark matter and stars. We apply the method to simulate the dynamical evolution of stellar-dark matter systems, exploring the consequences of mass segregation and gravothermal core collapse, and assessing those effects for observed globular clusters and dwarf galaxies in the Local Volume.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2505.18251,
title = {Dynamical Evolutions in Globular Clusters and Dwarf Galaxies: Conduction Fluid Simulations},
author = {Yi-Ming Zhong and Stuart L. Shapiro},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2505.18251},
year = {2025}
}
Comments
16 pages + references + appendices, 8 figures, 4 tables; v2 as accepted by PRD