Related papers: Does sub-cluster merging accelerate mass segregati…
Stars form predominantly in groups usually denoted as clusters or associations. The observed stellar groups display a broad spectrum of masses, sizes and other properties, so it is often assumed that there is no underlying structure in this…
Super Star Clusters (Mecl > 10^5 Msol) are the largest stellar nurseries in our local Universe, containing hundreds of thousands to millions of young stars within a few light years. Many of these systems are found in external galaxies,…
In this contribution we review our recent numerical work discussing the essential role of the local cluster environment in assembling massive stars. First we show that massive stars are formed from low mass pre-stellar cores and become…
Star clusters are born in a highly compact configuration, typically with radii of less than about 1 pc roughly independently of mass. Since the star-formation efficiency is less than 50 per cent by observation and because the residual gas…
The mm-wave continuum sources (MCS) in Ophiuchus have mutual collision rates less than their collapse rates by a factor of 10 to 100, suggesting most will form stars without further interactions. However, this ratio of rates would have…
We model the formation of high-mass stars, specifying the accretion rate in terms of the instantaneous and final mass of the star, the ambient pressure of the star-forming region and the form of polytropic pressure support of the…
The OB associations, which are fossil star formation regions, retain the end-products of the star formation process in an open, unobscured environment. Observations of the low mass stars in OB associations provide a far clearer picture of…
A significant fraction of clusters of galaxies are observed to have substructure, which implies that merging between clusters and subclusters is a rather common physical process of cluster formation. It still remains unclear how cluster…
Most formation scenarios of globular clusters assume a molecular cloud as the progenitor of the stellar system. However, it is still unclear, how this cloud is transformed into a star cluster, i.e. how the destructive processes related to…
Star clusters are observed to form in a highly compact state and with low star-formation efficiencies, and only 10 per cent of all clusters appear to survive to middle- and old-dynamical age. If the residual gas is expelled on a dynamical…
The high-density environment of galaxy clusters is ripe for collisional encounters of galaxies. While the large velocity dispersion of clusters was originally thought to preclude slow encounters, the infall of smaller groups into the…
This paper addresses the questions of what we have learned about how and when dense star clusters form, and what studies of star clusters have revealed about galaxy formation and evolution. One important observation is that globular…
Stellar clusters are critical constituents within galaxies: they are the result of highest-density star formation, and through their spatially and temporally correlated feedback they regulate their host galaxy evolution. We present a novel…
The results obtained by Kroupa, Petr & McCaughrean (1999) for specific models of young compact binary-rich clusters are generalised using dynamical scaling relations, to infer the candidate set of possible birth models leading to the Orion…
In the most prominent current scenario of galaxy formation, galaxies form hierarchically through the merger of smaller systems. Such mergers could leave behind dynamical signatures which may linger long after the event. In particular, the…
Massive star clusters are often used as tracers of galaxy formation and assembly. In order to do so, we must understand their properties at formation, and how those properties change with time, galactic environment, and galaxy assembly…
We have obtained the first measures of the mass accretion rates on stars of the Trapezium Cluster. They appear systematically lower than those of similar stars in the Taurus-Auriga association. Together with premature disk evaporation,…
We discuss how contemporary multiwavelength observations of young OB-dominated clusters address long-standing astrophysical questions: Do clusters form rapidly or slowly with an age spread? When do clusters expand and disperse to constitute…
We investigate the properties and evolution of star particles in two simulations of isolated spiral galaxies, and two galaxies from cosmological simulations. Unlike previous numerical work, where typically each star particle represents one…
We undertake a systematic analysis of the early (< 0.5 Myr) evolution of clustering and the stellar initial mass function in turbulent fragmentation simulations. These large scale simulations for the first time offer the opportunity for a…