Related papers: An Analytic Model for Blue Straggler Formation in …
We study the production of main sequence mergers of tidally-synchronized primordial short-period binaries. The principal ingredients of our calculation are the angular momentum loss rates inferred from the spindown of open cluster stars and…
Binary stars are thought to be a controlling factor in globular cluster evolution, since they can heat the environmental stars by converting their binding energy to kinetic energy during dynamical interactions. Through such interaction, the…
By using the high resolution spectrograph FLAMES@VLT we performed the first systematic campaign devoted to measure chemical abundances of blue straggler stars (BSSs). These stars, whose existence is not predicted by the canonical stellar…
Recent high-resolution observations of the central region of Galactic globular clusters have shown the presence of a large variety of exotic stellar objects whose formation and evolution may be strongly affected by dynamical interactions.…
This chapter presents an overview of the main observational results obtained to date about Blue Straggler Stars (BSSs) in Galactic Globular Clusters (GCs). The BSS specific frequency, radial distribution, chemical composition and rotational…
The formation of brown dwarfs (BDs) poses a key challenge to star formation theory. The observed dearth of nearby ($\leq 5$ AU) brown dwarf companions to solar-mass stars, known as the brown dwarf desert, as well as the tendency for…
Hierarchical triple-star systems are expected to form frequently via close binary-binary encounters in the dense cores of globular clusters. In a sufficiently inclined triple, gravitational interactions between the inner and outer binary…
We present semi-analytical models and simplified $N$-body simulations with $10^4$ and $10^5$ particles aimed at probing the role of dynamical friction (DF) in determining the radial distribution of Blue Straggler Stars (BSSs) in globular…
The shape of the radial distribution of Blue Straggler Stars (BSS), when normalized to a reference population of Horizontal Branch (HB) stars, has been found to be a powerful indicator of the dynamical evolution reached by a Globular…
The origin of blue straggler stars (BSS) in globular clusters (GCs) is still not fully understood: they can form from stellar collisions, or through mass transfer in isolated, primordial binaries (PBs). In this paper we use the radial…
In this paper I present an overview of the main observational properties of a special class of exotic objects (the so-called Blue Straggler Stars, BSSs) in Galactic Globular Clusters (GCs). The BSS specific frequency and their radial…
The evolution of stellar collision products in cluster simulations has usually been modelled using simplified prescriptions. Such prescriptions either replace the collision product with an (evolved) main sequence star, or assume that the…
Blue straggler stars are more massive than the average star in globular clusters, as they originate from the merger of two stars. Consequently, they experience dynamical friction, progressively sinking to the cluster center. Recently,…
We report the results of new SPH calculations of parabolic collisions between two main-sequence stars in a globular cluster. Such collisions are directly relevant to the formation of blue stragglers. In particular, we consider parent stars…
The predicted rate of binary black hole mergers from galactic fields can vary over several orders of magnitude and is extremely sensitive to the assumptions of stellar evolution. But in dense stellar environments such as globular clusters,…
The core of the Galactic Globular Cluster M3 (NGC 5272) has been observed with the WFPC2 through the filters F255W, F336W, F555W, and F814W. Using these observations along with a thorough reanalysis of earlier catalogs, we have produced a…
We investigate the dynamical formation and evolution of binaries containing neutron stars in dense globular clusters. Our numerical simulations combine a simple Monte Carlo prescription for stellar dynamics, a sophisticated binary…
By combining high-resolution HST and wide-field ground based observations, in ultraviolet and optical bands, we study the Blue Stragglers Star (BSS) population of the galactic globular cluster M5 (NGC 5904) from its very central regions up…
We present a detailed investigation of the radial distribution of blue straggler star and binary populations in the Galactic globular cluster NGC 5466, over the entire extension of the system. We used a combination of data acquired with the…
The hydrodynamics of stellar collisions and mergers is discussed in the context of blue straggler formation. Emphasis is placed on the very important question of hydrodynamic mixing during the merger process. Recent results of…