Related papers: Open star clusters and Galactic structure
We present an analysis of the spatial distribution of various stellar populations within the Large Magellanic Cloud. We combine mid-infrared selected young stellar objects, optically selected samples with mean ages between ~9 and ~1000 Myr,…
In gaussian theories of structure formation, the galaxy cluster abundance is an extremely sensitive probe of the density fluctuation power spectrum and of the density parameter, $\Omega$. We develop this theme by deriving and studying in…
Galactic star formation scaling relations show increased scatter from kpc to sub-kpc scales. Investigating this scatter may hold important clues to how the star formation process evolves in time and space. Here, we combine different…
The Galactic population of open clusters provides an insight into star formation in the Galaxy. The open cluster catalogue by Dias et al.(2002b) is a rich source of data, including kinematic information. This large sample made it possible…
This work observationally addresses the relative distribution of total and optically luminous matter in galaxy clusters by computing the radial profile of the stellar-to-total mass ratio. We adopt state-of-the-art accurate lensing masses…
In this review, we describe our current understanding of cluster formation: from the general picture of collapse from initial density fluctuations in an expanding Universe to detailed simulations of cluster formation including the effects…
Metallicity is one of four free parameters typically considered when fitting isochrones to the cluster sequence. Unfortunately, this parameter is often ignored or assumed to be solar in most papers. Hence an unknown bias is introduced in…
Although coherent large-scale structures such as filaments and walls are apparent to the eye in galaxy redshift surveys, they have so far proven difficult to characterize with computer algorithms. This paper presents a procedure that uses…
We construct a family of semi-analytic models for young open clusters, including a gaseous component and varying assumptions about the distribution function for the stellar component. The parameters of these models are informed by observed…
The clustered nature of star formation should produce a high degree of structure in the combined phase and chemical space in the Galactic disk. To date, observed structure of this kind has been mostly limited to bound clusters and moving…
We present a list of 130 Galactic Open Clusters, found in the All-Sky Compiled Catalogue of 2.5 Million Stars (ASCC-2.5). For these clusters we determined and publish a homogeneous set of astrophysical parameters such as size, membership,…
We investigate the dependence of galaxy structure on a variety of galactic and environmental parameters for ~500,000 galaxies at z<0.2, taken from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey data release 7 (SDSS-DR7). We utilise bulge-to-total stellar…
The degree of influence that environment and mass have on the stellar populations of early-type galaxies is uncertain. In this paper we present the results of a spectroscopic analysis of the stellar populations of early-type galaxies aimed…
With the advent of wide-field cosmological surveys, we are approaching samples of hundreds of thousands of galaxy clusters. While such large numbers will help reduce statistical uncertainties, the control of systematics in cluster masses…
The aim of this work is to test to what extent the star cluster population of a galaxy can be utilised to constrain or estimate the star formation history, with the Large Magellanic Cloud as our testbed. We follow two methods to extract…
The sample of known star clusters, the fundamental building blocks of galaxies, in the Milky Way is still extremely incomplete for objects beyond a distance of 1-2kpc. Many of the more distant and young clusters are compact and hidden…
Stochasticity of bright stars introduces uncertainty and bias into derived structural parameters of star clusters. We have simulated a grid of cluster $V$-band images, observed with Subaru Suprime-Cam with age, mass, and size representing a…
Thick disks appear to be common in external large spiral galaxies and our own Milky Way also hosts one. The existence of a thick disk is possibly directly linked to the formation history of the host galaxy and if its properties is known it…
We review progress in numerical simulations of star cluster formation. These simulations involve the bottom-up assembly of clusters through hierarchical mergers, which produces a fractal stellar distribution at young (~0.5 Myr) ages. The…
The distributions of a galaxy's gas and stars in chemical space encodes a tremendous amount of information about that galaxy's physical properties and assembly history. However, present methods for extracting information from chemical…