Related papers: Testing the initial conditions and dynamical evolu…
The European Space Agency's Gaia space telescope, launched in 2013, aims to measure the positions, parallaxes, and proper motions of a billion stars in our Galaxy and throughout the Local Group. In doing so it will include hundreds of…
We study the evolution of embedded clusters. The equations of motion of the stars in the cluster are solved by direct N-body integration while taking the effects of stellar evolution and the hydrodynamics of the natal gas content into…
Stars form in spatially and temporarily correlated star formation events (CSFEs) and the dynamical processes within these "embedded clusters" leave imprints in the stellar populations in galactic fields. Such imprints are correlations in…
Violent relaxation -- the protocluster dynamical response to the expulsion of its residual star forming gas -- is a short albeit crucial episode in the evolution of star clusters and star cluster systems. Because it is heavily driven by…
The evolution of star clusters is determined by several internal and external processes. Here we focus on two dominant internal effects, namely energy exchange between stars through close encounters (two-body relaxation) and mass-loss of…
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…
How starburst clusters form out of molecular clouds is still an open question. In this article, I highlight some of the key constraints in this regard, that one can get from the dynamical evolutionary properties of dense stellar systems. I…
Most stars are born in the crowded environments of gradually forming star clusters. Dynamical interactions between close-passing stars and the evolving UV radiation fields from proximate massive stars are expected to sculpt the…
Combined studies of variable stars and stellar clusters open great horizons, and they allow us to improve our understanding of stellar cluster formation and stellar evolution. In that prospect, the Gaia mission will provide astrometric,…
The evolution of star clusters is largely affected by the tidal field generated by the host galaxy. It is thus in principle expected that under the assumption of an "universal" initial cluster mass function the properties of the evolved…
We review recent work that investigates the formation of stellar clusters, ranging in scale from globular clusters through open clusters to the small scale aggregates of stars observed in T associations. In all cases, recent advances in…
The young (~2 Myr) cluster Chamaeleon I is one of the closest laboratories to study the early stages of star cluster dynamics in a low-density environment. We studied its structural and kinematical properties combining parameters from the…
Planetary systems appear to form contemporaneously around young stars within young star-forming regions. Within these environments, the chances of survival, as well as the long-term evolution of these systems, are influenced by factors such…
(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…
Open and globular star clusters have served as benchmarks for the study of stellar evolution due to their supposed nature as simple stellar populations of the same age and metallicity. After a brief review of some of the pioneering work…
Runaway stars are ejected from their place of birth in the Galactic disk, with some young B-type runaways found several tens of kiloparsecs from the plane traveling at speeds beyond the escape velocity. Young open clusters are a likely…
Star clusters form out of the densest parts of infrared dark clouds. The emergence of massive stars expels the residual gas, which has not formed stars yet. Gas expulsion lowers the gravitational potential of the embedded cluster, unbinding…
Observations of star-forming regions provide snapshots in time of the star formation process, and can be compared with simulation data to constrain the initial conditions of star formation. In order to make robust inferences, different…
Empirical constraints on the internal dynamics of open clusters are important for understanding their evolution and evaporation. High precision astrometry from Gaia DR3 are thus useful to observe aspects of the cluster dynamics. This work…
In the outskirts of nearby spiral galaxies, star formation is observed in extremely low gas surface densities. Star formation in these regions, where the interstellar medium is dominated by diffuse atomic hydrogen, is difficult to explain…