Related papers: Nuclear Star Clusters across the Hubble Sequence
Giant elliptical galaxies, believed to be built from the merger of lesser galaxies, are known to house a massive black hole at their center rather than a compact star cluster. If low- and intermediate-mass galaxies do indeed partake in the…
We consider the relationship between the masses of the compact nuclear objects in the centers of disky galaxies -- supermassive black holes (SMBHs) or nuclear star clusters (NCs) -- and such parameters as the maximal velocity of rotation…
The majority of spiral and elliptical galaxies in the Universe host very dense and compact stellar systems at their centres known as nuclear star clusters (NSCs). In this work we study the stellar populations and star formation histories…
Nuclear star clusters (NSCs) are dense stellar clusters observed in galactic nuclei, typically hosting a central massive black hole. Here we study the possible formation and evolution of NSCs through the inspiral of multiple star clusters…
Recent surveys of star forming regions have shown that most stars, and probably all massive stars, are born in dense stellar clusters. The mechanism by which a molecular cloud fragments to form several hundred to thousands of individual…
In dwarf galaxies, nuclear star clusters (NSCs) are believed to primarily form from the migration and merger of globular clusters (GCs), with a possible contribution from in-situ star-forming activity triggered by gas infall. We present the…
In this paper we present the results of two detailed N-body simulations of the interaction of a sample of four massive globular clusters in the inner region of a triaxial galaxy. A full merging of the clusters takes place, leading to a…
One possible origin of high velocity stars in the Galaxy is that they are the product of the interaction of binary systems and supermassive black holes. We investigate a new production channel of high velocity stars as due to the close…
We obtained Hubble Space Telescope/Wide Field Camera 3 imaging of a sample of ten of the nearest and brightest nuclear clusters residing in late-type spiral galaxies, in seven bands that span the near-ultraviolet to the near-infrared.…
We investigate the structural properties of nuclear star clusters in late-type spiral galaxies. More specifically, we fit analytical models to HST images of 39 nuclear clusters in order to determine their effective radii after correction…
Dense star clusters are spectacular self-gravitating stellar systems in our Galaxy and across the Universe - in many respects. They populate disks and spheroids of galaxies as well as almost every galactic center. In massive elliptical…
The supermassive black hole candidate at the Galactic Center is surrounded by a parsec-scale star cluster, which contains a number of early type stars. The presence of such stars has been called a "paradox of youth" as star formation in the…
Nuclear Star Clusters (NSCs) are dense stellar systems located at the centers of galaxies. Employing Enzo-Abyss, which integrates hydrodynamics with a direct N-body solver, we introduce a simulation capable of resolving the evolution of…
The dynamics of galactic nuclei can be affected by several mechanisms. Among these are stellar evolution, stellar collisions, mass segregation, and tidal disruptions of stars due to the central black hole. In this presentation I will…
Circumnuclear star forming regions, also called hotspots, are often found in the inner regions of some spiral galaxies where intense processes of star formation are taking place. In the UV, massive stars dominate the observed circumnuclear…
The evolution of dense star clusters is followed by direct high-accuracy N-body simulation. The problem is to first order a gravitational N-body problem, but stars evolve due to astrophysics and the more massive ones form black holes or…
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…
I describe the current state of our knowledge of the mapping between the initial masses of stars and the compact objects -- particularly neutron stars and black holes -- that they produce. Most of that knowledge is theoretical in nature,…
Star clusters stand at the intersection of much of modern astrophysics: the interstellar medium, gravitational dynamics, stellar evolution, and cosmology. Here we review observations and theoretical models for the formation, evolution, and…
The currently available empirical evidence on the star formation processes in the extreme, high-pressure environments induced by galaxy encounters, mostly based on high-resolution Hubble Space Telescope imaging observations, strongly…