Related papers: Testing multi-mass dynamical models of star cluste…
We used a combination of high-resolution optical images acquired with the Hubble Space Telescope and near-IR wide-field data to investigate the stellar density profile and the population of blue straggler star (BSS) in the Galactic globular…
We quantify the structure of a very large number of Galactic open clusters and look for evidence of mass segregation for the most massive stars in the clusters. We characterise the structure and mass segregation ratios of 1276 clusters in…
The study of the very young open cluster NGC 6231 clearly shows the presence of a mass segregation for the most massive stars. These observations, combined with those concerning other young objects and very recent numerical simulations,…
We begin by presenting the analysis of a set of deep B- and V-band images of the central density cusp of the globular cluster M30 (NGC 7099), taken with the Faint Object Camera aboard the Hubble Space Telescope. These images are the first…
We used a combination of optical and near-UV Hubble Space Telescope photometry and FLAMES/ESO-VLT high-resolution spectroscopy to characterize the stellar content of the old and massive globular cluster (GC) NGC121 in the Small Magellanic…
Mass segregation is seen in many star clusters, but whether massive stars form in the center of a cluster or migrate there dynamically is still debated. N-body simulations have shown that early dynamical mass segregation is possible when…
We exploit the astro-photometric dataset of the multi-epoch infrared parallel field of a $\textit{Hubble Space Telescope}$ Large Programme aimed at studying the faintest stars of the globular cluster NGC$\,$6752 to determine the luminosity…
We search for mass segregation in the intermediate-aged open cluster NGC 6819 within a carefully identified sample of probable cluster members. Using photometry from the Gaia, 2MASS, and Pan-STARRS surveys as inputs for a Bayesian…
We have used the ``dynamical clock'' to measure the level of dynamical evolution reached by three Galactic globular clusters (namely, NGC 3201, NGC 6316 and NGC 6440). This is an empirical method that quantifies the level of central…
The infall and merger scenario of massive clusters in the Milky Way's potential well, as one of the Milky Way formation mechanisms, is reexamined to understand how the stars of the merging clusters are redistributed during and after the…
Velocity dispersions have been employed as a method to measure masses of clusters. To complement this conventional method, we explore the possibility of constraining cluster masses from the stacked phase space distribution of galaxies at…
In this paper, using 2MASS photometry, we study the mass functions $\phi(M) = dN/dM \propto M^{-\alpha}$ of a sample of nine clusters of ages varying from 4 Myr--1.2 Gyr and Galactocentric distances from 6--12 kpc. We look for evidence of…
Shells in Elliptical Galaxies are faint, sharp-edged features, believed to provide evidence of a recent ($\sim 0.5 - 2 \times 10^9$ years ago) merger event. We analyse the Globular Cluster (GC) systems of six shell elliptical galaxies, to…
In this study, we present a detailed study of mass segregation in the globular clister NGC 6397. First, we carry out a photometric analysis of projected ESO-VLT data (between 1 and 10 arcmin from the cluster centre), presenting the…
We study the mass and anisotropy distribution of the giant elliptical galaxy NGC 5846 using stars, as well as the red and blue globular cluster (GC) subpopulations. We break degeneracies in the dynamical models by taking advantage of the…
We have derived the global mass functions of a sample of 35 Galactic globular clusters by comparing deep Hubble Space Telescope photometry with suitable multimass dynamical models. For a subset of 29 clusters with available radial velocity…
In this thesis we study several aspects of dynamical evolution of stellar clusters. The results of more than 200 simulations of single-mass star clusters with different initial total mass, half-mass radius and galactocentric distance, are…
We perform a systematic combined photometric and kinematic analysis of a sample of globular clusters under different relaxation conditions, based on their core relaxation time (as listed in available catalogs), by means of two well-known…
Context. Globular clusters (GCs) are suggested to host many stellar-mass black holes (BHs) at their centers, thus resulting in ideal testbeds for BH formation and retention theories. BHs are expected to play a major role in GC structural…
The physical properties of star cluster populations offer valuable insights into their birth, evolution, and disruption. However, individual stars in clusters beyond the nearest neighbours of the Milky Way are unresolved, forcing analyses…