English

Indicators for cluster survivability in a dispersing cloud

Astrophysics of Galaxies 2011-02-11 v1

Abstract

We use N-body simulations to survey the response of embedded star clusters to the dispersal of their parent molecular cloud. The final stages of the clusters can be divided into three classes: the cluster (i) is destroyed, (ii) has a loose structure, and (iii) has a compact core. We are interested in three of the governing parameters of the parent cloud: (i) the mass, (ii) the size, and (iii) the dispersing rate. It is known that the final stage of the cluster is well correlated with the star formation efficiency (SFE) for systems with the same cluster and cloud profile. We deem that the SFE alone is not enough to address systems with clouds of different sizes. Our result shows that the initial cluster-cloud mass ratio at a certain Lagrangian radius, and the initial kinetic energy are better indicators for the survivability of embedded clusters.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.0905.0077,
  title  = {Indicators for cluster survivability in a dispersing cloud},
  author = {Hui-Chen Chen and Chung-Ming Ko},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0905.0077},
  year   = {2011}
}

Comments

accepted for publication in ApJ

R2 v1 2026-06-21T12:57:18.638Z