Related papers: The Maxwell's demon of star clusters
Combination of high-precision photometry and spectroscopy allows the detailed study of the upper main sequence in open clusters. We are carrying out a comprehensive study of a number of clusters containing Be stars in order to evaluate the…
Mergers of gas-rich galaxies lead to gravitationally driven increases in gas pressure that can trigger intense bursts of star and cluster formation. Although star formation itself is clustered, most newborn stellar aggregates are unbound…
The study of binary stars is worth to undertake not only to learn more about the properties of binaries as such, but also because binaries are multi-purpose astrophysical tools. This paper reviews some of the ways this effective "tool" can…
Super Star Clusters (Mecl > 10^5 Msol) are the largest stellar nurseries in our local Universe, containing hundreds of thousands to millions of young stars within a few light years. Many of these systems are found in external galaxies,…
Observations indicate that members of close stellar binaries often have mass ratios close to unity, while longer-period systems exhibit a more uniform mass-ratio distribution. This paper provides a theoretical explanation for this finding…
Young and massive star clusters above a critical mass form thermally unstable clumps reducing locally the temperature and pressure of the hot 10$^{7}$~K cluster wind. The matter reinserted by stars, and mass loaded in interactions with…
We present the results of realistic N-body modelling of massive star clusters in the Magellanic Clouds, aimed at investigating a dynamical origin for the radius-age trend observed in these systems. We find that stellar-mass black holes,…
Binary stars play a major role in determining the dynamic evolution of star clusters. We used images collected with the Hubble Space Telescope to study fourteen Magellanic Clouds star clusters that span an age interval between $\sim 0.6$…
Many possible scenarios for the formation of multiple stellar populations (MSP) in globular clusters (GCs) have been discussed so far, including the involvement of asymptotic giant branch stars, fast rotating main sequence stars, very…
Most stars form in dense star clusters deeply embedded in residual gas. These objects must therefore be seen as the fundamental building blocks of galaxies. With this contribution some physical processes that act in the very early and also…
Massive stars are born predominantly as members of binary (or higher multiplicity) systems, and the presence of a companion can significantly alter their life and final fate. Therefore, any observed sample of massive stars or associated…
In studying encounters between binaries and single stars, one is interested in three classes of events: exchanges of stars, hardening of the original binary by a third star, and the production of merged objects. We present a means for…
In dense stellar systems the frequent dynamical interactions between stars play a crucial role in the formation and evolution of compact binaries. We study these processes using a novel approach combining a state-of-the-art binary…
We consider the possibility that an infalling bulge core or stellar cluster could form an eccentric disk, following tidal disruption by a massive black hole in the center of a galaxy. As a function of central black hole mass, we constrain…
To explain both the dynamics of a globular cluster and its production of gravitational waves from coalescing binary black holes, it is necessary to understand its population of dynamically-formed (or, `three-body') binaries. We provide a…
Multiplicity is ubiquitous among massive stars. While the stellar components usually display similar masses, some binaries with extremely low mass ratios were also observed. Some of them are primordial, while others arise from binary…
The evolution of main sequence binaries resided in the galactic centre is influenced a lot by the central super massive black hole (SMBH). Due to this perturbation, the stars in a dense environment are likely to experience mergers or…
Exoplanets are typically thought to form in protoplanetary disks left over from protostellar disk of their newly formed host star. However, additional planetary formation and evolution routes may exist in old evolved binary systems. Here we…
Most stars, binaries, and higher multiplicity systems are thought to form in stellar clusters and associations, which later dissociate. Very wide binaries can be easily disrupted in clusters due to dynamical evaporation (soft binaries)…
Virtually all massive galaxies, including our own, host central black holes ranging in mass from millions to billions of solar masses. The growth of these black holes releases vast amounts of energy that powers quasars and other weaker…