Related papers: Interrupted Stellar Encounters in Star Clusters
We develop a formalism for studying the dynamics of massive black hole binaries embedded in gravitationally-bound stellar cusps, and study the binary orbital decay by three-body interactions, the impact of stellar slingshots on the density…
The importance of stellar encounters in producing stellar exotica in dense stellar clusters is reviewed. We discuss how collisions between main-sequence stars may be responsible for the production of blue stragglers in globular clusters. We…
Approximately 10 per cent of star clusters are found in pairs, known as binary clusters. We propose a mechanism for binary cluster formation; we use N-body simulations to show that velocity substructure in a single (even fairly smooth)…
We report results of N-body simulations of isolated star clusters, performed up to the point where the clusters are nearly completely dissolved. Our main focus is on the post-collapse evolution of these clusters. We find that after core…
Star clusters stand at the intersection of much of modern astrophysics: the interstellar medium, gravitational dynamics, stellar evolution, and cosmology. Here we review observations and theoretical models for the formation, evolution, and…
Given the stellar density near the galactic center, close encounters between compact object binaries and the supermassive black hole are a plausible occurrence. We present results from a numerical study of close to 13 million such…
We develop analytical tools and perform three-body simulations to investigate the orbital evolution and dynamical stability of binary planets within star clusters. Our analytical results show that the orbital stability of a planetary-mass…
Observations have revealed that most stars are born in clusters. These systems, containing from tens to thousands of stars and typically significant mass in gas in the youngest systems, evolve due to a combination of stellar and star-gas…
The architecture and evolution of planetary systems are shaped in part by stellar flybys. Within this context, we look at stellar encounters which are too weak to immediately destabilize a planetary system but are nevertheless strong enough…
The discovery of multiple stellar populations in globular clusters has implications for all the aspects of the study of these stellar systems. In this paper, by means of N-body simulations, we study the evolution of binary stars in…
Stars are commonly formed in binary systems, which provide a natural laboratory for studying planet formation in extreme conditions. In our first paper (Paper I) of a series Xie et al. (2011), we have shown that the intermediate stage -…
Classical Cepheid variable stars provide a unique probe to binary evolution in intermediate-mass stars over the course of several tens to hundreds of Myr. We studied the binary and multiple properties of Cepheids, assuming that all mid-B…
In this review, I present the case for how massive stars may form through stellar collisions. This mechanism requires very high stellar densities, up to 4 orders of magnitude higher than are observed in the cores of dense young clusters. In…
Star clusters - open and globulars - experience dynamical evolution on time scales shorter than their age. Consequently, open and globular clusters provide us with unique dynamical laboratories for learning about two-body relaxation, mass…
Black holes formed in dense star clusters, where dynamical interactions are frequent, may have fundamentally different properties than those formed through isolated stellar evolution. Theoretical models for single star evolution predict a…
Stellar encounters potentially affect the evolution of the protoplanetary discs in the Orion Nebula Cluster (ONC). However, the role of encounters in other cluster environments is less known. We investigate the effect of the…
Context. The presence of a stellar companion can strongly influence the architecture and long-term stability of planetary systems. Motivated by the discovery of exoplanets exhibiting extremely high eccentricities (e >= 0.8) in systems with…
We study dynamical interactions of star--planet binaries with other single stars. We derive analytical cross sections for all possible outcomes, and confirm them with numerical scattering experiments. We find that a wide mass ratio in the…
We consider essential mechanisms for orbit-shrinkage or "hardening" of compact binaries in globular clusters to the point of Roche-lobe contact and X-ray emission phase, focussing on the process of collisional hardening due to encounters…
Nearly every star known to host planets will become a white dwarf, and nearly 100 planet-hosts are now known to be accompanied by binary stellar companions. Here, we determine how a binary companion triggers instability in otherwise…