Related papers: Constraining star cluster disruption mechanisms
(Abridged) The dynamical ejection of stars from star clusters affects the shape of the stellar mass function (MF) in these clusters, because the escape probability of a star depends on its mass. The objective of this paper is to provide and…
I present recent observations and analyses of star cluster formation in a wide variety of environments -- from young star clusters and super star clusters in normal actively star-forming spirals and irregulars to starbursting dwarfs and…
Most if not all stars form in star clusters. Thus the distribution of star clusters preserves the information on the star formation history of a galaxy. Massive clusters form only during episodes of high star formation activity whereas…
Observations suggest that star formation occurs in only one or two crossing times for a range of scales spanning a factor of 1000. These observations include (1) measurements of embedded cluster ages in comparison with the cloud core…
(Abridged) Interacting galaxies are well-known for their high star formation rates and rich star cluster populations, but the rapidly changing tidal field can also efficiently destroy clusters. We use numerical simulations of merging disc…
This paper studies the dynamical evolution of young stellar clusters with $N$ = 100 - 1000 members. We use N-body simulations to explore how evolution depends on system size $N$ and the initial conditions. Motivated by recent observations…
Star clusters are fundamental units of stellar feedback and unique tracers of their host galactic properties. In this review, we will first focus on their constituents, i.e.\ detailed insight into their stellar populations and their…
The study of the very young open cluster NGC 6231 clearly shows the presence of a mass segregation for the most massive stars. These observations, combined with those concerning other young objects and very recent numerical simulations,…
The young cluster NGC 6231 (stellar ages ~2-7 Myr) is observed shortly after star-formation activity has ceased. Using the catalog of 2148 probable cluster members obtained from Chandra, VVV, and optical surveys (Paper I), we examine the…
We analyse the population of bright star clusters in the interacting galaxy pair NGC 4038/39 detected with HST WFPC1 by Whitmore & Schweizer (1995) using our spectrophotometric evolutionary synthesis models for various initial…
We consider models of gas flow in spiral galaxies in which the spiral structure has been excited by various possible mechanisms: a global steady density wave, self-gravity of the stellar disc and an external tidal interaction, as well as…
We present a study of the properties of the star-cluster systems around pseudo-bulges of late-type spiral galaxies using a sample of 11 galaxies with distances from 17 to 37 Mpc. Star clusters are identified from multiband HST ACS and WFPC2…
The clusters of young stars in massive star-forming regions show a wide range of sizes, morphologies, and numbers of stars. Their highly subclustered structures are revealed by the MYStIX project's sample of 31,754 young stars in nearby…
We discuss the observations and theory of star cluster formation to argue that clusters form dynamically cool (subvirial) and with substructure. We then perform an ensemble of simulations of cool, clumpy (fractal) clusters and show that…
We present an analysis of the spatial distribution of various stellar populations within the Large Magellanic Cloud. We combine mid-infrared selected young stellar objects, optically selected samples with mean ages between ~9 and ~1000 Myr,…
Young massive star clusters spanning $\sim 10^4 - 10^8 M_\odot$ in mass have been observed to have similar surface brightness profiles. Recent hydrodynamical simulations of star cluster formation have also produced star clusters with this…
The Large Magellanic Cloud is one of the nearest galaxies to us and is one of only few galaxies where the star formation history can be determined from studying resolved stellar populations. We have compiled a new catalogue of ages,…
Recent observations, as well as theoretical studies, have suggested that stellar cluster formation may depend on local and global environmental properties. In particular, the fraction of stars that form within long-lived bound clusters…
We discuss the mechanism of cluster formation in hierarchically collapsing molecular clouds. Recent evidence, both observational and numerical, suggests that molecular clouds (MCs) may be undergoing global, hierarchical gravitational…
Most of the dynamical mass loss from star clusters is thought to be caused by the time-variability of the tidal field (``tidal shocks''). Systematic studies of tidal shocks have been hampered by the fact that each tidal history is unique,…