Related papers: Completing the Massive Star Population: Striking I…
Because the majority of massive stars are born as members of close binary systems, populations of massive main-sequence stars contain stellar mergers and products of binary mass transfer. We simulate populations of massive stars accounting…
We investigate the physical processes which lead to the formation of massive stars. Using a numerical simulation of the formation of a stellar cluster from a turbulent molecular cloud, we evaluate the relevant contributions of fragmentation…
More than 50 years have elapsed since the first studies of star clusters in the Magellanic Clouds. The wealth of data accumulated since then has not only revealed a large cluster system, but also a diversified one, filling loci in the age,…
Young super star clusters and young compact massive star forming regions can provide useful information on their burst properties (age, burst duration, SFR), the upper end of the IMF and yield new constraints on the evolution of massive…
Stars born at the same time in the same place should have formed from gas of the same element composition. But most stars subsequently disperse from their birth siblings, in orbit and orbital phase, becoming 'field stars'. Here we explore…
The center of our galaxy is home to a massive black hole, SgrA*, and a nuclear star cluster containing stellar populations of various ages. While the late type stars may be too old to have retained memory of their initial orbital…
The stellar mass distribution in star-forming regions, stellar clusters and associations, the Initial Mass Function (IMF), appears to be invariant across different star-forming environments, and is consistent with the IMF observed in the…
Observational and theoretical work has now established that the fossil fields of magnetic massive stars are surviving remnants from an earlier event, or an earlier evolutionary phase. However, many important questions remain regarding the…
In spite of significant recent and ongoing research efforts, most of the early evolution and long-term fate of young massive star clusters remain clouded in uncertainties. Here, I discuss our understanding of the initial conditions of star…
Magnetic fields play an important role at all stages of stellar evolution. In Sun-like stars, they are generated in the outer convective layers. Studying the large-scale magnetic fields of these stars enlightens our understanding of the…
In the solar neighbourhood, there are moving groups of stars with similar ages and others of stars with heterogeneous ages as the field stars. To explain these facts, we have constructed a simple model of three phases. Phase A: a giant…
Massive clusters are now seen to form easily in interacting and merging galaxies, making these excellent environments for studying the properties of young clusters. New observations of the Antennae (NGC 4038/39) show that the most luminous…
We investigate the nature of the diffuse intra-cluster ultraviolet light seen in twelve local starburst galaxies, using long-slit ultraviolet spectroscopy obtained with the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) aboard the Hubble Space…
We explore whether global observed properties, specifically half-light radii, mean surface brightness, and integrated stellar kinematics, suffice to unambiguously differentiate galaxies from star clusters, which presumably formed…
With only a handful of known magnetic massive stars, there is a troubling deficit in the scope of our knowledge of the influence of magnetic fields on stellar evolution, and almost no empirical basis for understanding how fields modify mass…
It has been commonly conjectured that all massive >10 Msun stars are born in OB associations or clusters. Many O and B stars in the Galaxy or the Magellanic Clouds appear to exist in isolation, however. While some of these field OB stars…
We explore the possibility that the observed population of Galactic hypervelocity stars (HVSs) originate as runaway stars from the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). Pairing a binary evolution code with an N-body simulation of the interaction of…
Runaway stars are characterized by higher space velocities than typical field stars. They are presumed to have been ejected from their birth places by one or more energetic mechanisms, including supernova explosions. Accurate radial…
The measured star-formation rates (SFRs) of galaxies comprise an important constraint on galaxy evolution and also on their cosmological boundary conditions. Any available tracer of the SFR depends on the shape of the mass-distribution of…
Star formation lies at the center of a web of processes that drive cosmic evolution: generation of radiant energy, synthesis of elements, formation of planets, and development of life. Decades of observations have yielded a variety of…