Related papers: Spatial and kinematic segregation in star cluster …
Close encounters between stars in star forming regions are important as they can perturb or destroy protoplanetary discs, young planetary systems, and stellar multiple systems. We simulate simple, viralised, equal-mass $N$-body star…
We simulate the dynamics of fractal star clusters, in order to investigate the evolution of substructure in recently formed clusters. The velocity dispersion is found to be the key parameter determining the survival of substructure. In…
Stars form with a complex and highly structured distribution. For a smooth star cluster to form from these initial conditions, the star cluster must erase this substructure. We study how substructure is removed using N-body simulations that…
Galaxy mergers are common processes in the Universe. As a large fraction of galaxies hosts at their centres a central supermassive black hole (SMBH), mergers can lead to the formation of a supermassive black hole binary (SMBHB). The…
A catalog of Galactic globular clusters has been compiled and used to analyze relations between the chemical and kinematic parameters of the clusters. The catalog contains positions, distances, luminosities, metallicites, and…
In the last decade star clusters have been found in the centers of spiral galaxies across all Hubble types. We here present a spectroscopic study of the exceptionally bright (10^6 - 10^8 Lsun) but compact (Re ~ 5 pc) nuclear star clusters…
We present parsec-scale kinematics of eleven nearby galactic nuclei, derived from adaptive-optics assisted integral-field spectroscopy at (near-infrared) CO band-head wavelengths. We focus our analysis on the balance between ordered…
Nuclear stellar discs (NSDs) can help to constrain the assembly history of their host galaxies, as long as we can assume them to be fragile structures that are disrupted during merger events. In this work we investigate the fragility of…
We present high resolution interferometric and single dish observations of molecular gas in the Serpens cluster-forming core. Star formation does not appear to be homogeneous throughout the core, but is localised in spatially- and…
We investigate the properties and evolution of star particles in two simulations of isolated spiral galaxies, and two galaxies from cosmological simulations. Unlike previous numerical work, where typically each star particle represents one…
The study of the internal structure of star clusters provides important clues concerning their formation mechanism and dynamical evolution. There are both observational and numerical evidences indicating that open clusters evolve from an…
The interpretation of the difference observed between the radial distribution of globular clusters and that of halo-bulge stars in elliptical galaxies is discussed in terms of evolution of their globular cluster systems. I present a short…
The central regions of galaxies show the presence of massive black holes and/or dense stellar systems. The question about their modes of formation is still under debate. A likely explanation of the formation of the central dense stellar…
The process of galaxy cluster formation likely leaves an imprint on the properties of its individual member galaxies. Understanding this process is essential for uncovering the evolutionary connections between galaxies and cosmic…
We find 9 nuclear cluster candidates in a sample of 14 edge-on, late-type galaxies observed with HST/ACS. These clusters have magnitudes (M_I ~ -11) and sizes (r_eff ~ 3pc) similar to those found in previous studies of face-on, late-type…
Mergers between gas--rich disks and less--massive dwarf galaxies are studied using numerical simulation. As the orbit of a satellite decays through dynamical friction, the primary disk develops large-amplitude spirals in response to its…
In a virialized stellar system, the mean-square velocity is a direct tracer of the energy per unit mass of the system. Here, we exploit this to estimate and compare root-mean-square velocities for a large sample of nuclear star clusters and…
We revisit the hypothesis that dense galactic nuclei are formed from inspiraling globular clusters. Recent advances in understanding of the continuous formation of globular clusters over cosmic time and the concurrent evolution of the…
A sample of hundreds of simulated galaxy clusters is used to study the statistical properties of galaxy cluster formation. Individual assembly histories are discussed, the degree of virialization is demonstrated and various commonly used…
After the stars of a new, embedded star cluster have formed they blow the remaining gas out of the cluster. Especially winds of high mass stars and definitely the on-set of the first super novae can remove the residual gas from a cluster.…