Related papers: Massive star cluster formation and evolution in ti…
Like massive galaxies, dwarf galaxies are expected to undergo major mergers with other dwarfs. However, the end state of these mergers and the role that merging plays in regulating dwarf star formation is uncertain. Using imaging from the…
Star cluster formation is a major mode of star formation in the extreme conditions of interacting galaxies and violent starbursts. These newly-formed clusters are built from recycled gas, pre-enriched to various levels within the…
In about 40% of the Local Group galaxies star clusters have been detected so far, but the census is still incomplete. The properties of these clusters are briefly reviewed, and the impact of galaxy environment on the evolution and survival…
We investigate the spatial density configuration of stars around four metal-poor globular clusters (NGC 6266, NGC 6626, NGC 6642 and NGC 6723) in the Galactic bulge region using wide-field deep J, H, and K imaging data obtained with the…
How does the tidal debris of minor galaxy mergers contribute to structures in spiral galaxies or in the intergalactic medium? While major mergers are known to create structures such as tidal dwarf galaxies and star clusters within their…
In spite of significant recent and ongoing research efforts, most of the early evolution and long-term fate of young massive star clusters remain clouded in uncertainties. Here, I discuss our understanding of the initial conditions of star…
Star clusters are fundamental building blocks of galaxies. Their formation is related to the density and pressure in progenitor molecular clouds and their environmental conditions. To understand better the dynamical processes driving star…
I present recent observations and analyses of star cluster formation in a wide variety of environments -- from young star clusters and super star clusters in normal actively star-forming spirals and irregulars to starbursting dwarfs and…
Quantifying the timescales of star cluster emergence from their natal clouds remains one of the main challenges in understanding the star formation process. These timescales are fundamental measurements of the star formation cycle within…
We analyze the three-dimensional shapes and kinematics of the young star cluster population forming in a high-resolution GRIFFIN project simulation of a metal-poor dwarf galaxy starburst. The star clusters, which follow a power-law mass…
Interacting galaxies favor the formation of star clusters but are also suspected to affect their evolution through an intense and rapidly varying tidal field. Treating this complex behaviour remains out-of-reach of (semi-)analytical…
Interacting galaxies like the famous Antennae (NGC 4038/4039) or Stephan's Quintet (HCG 92) show considerable star forming activity in their tidal arms. High resolution images (e.g. from HST-observations) indicate that these regions consist…
From spectrophotometric and chemical evolutionary modelling of interacting and merging galaxies we predict abundances of burst stars and of globular clusters (GCs) that may be formed in strong bursts. Observations of young GCs in merger…
One possible channel for the formation of dwarf galaxies involves birth in the tidal tails of interacting galaxies. We report the detection of a bright UV tidal tail and several young tidal dwarf galaxy candidates in the post-merger galaxy…
We present a sample of dwarf galaxies that suffer ongoing disruption by the tidal force of nearby massive galaxies. Analysing structural and stellar population properties using the archival imaging and spectroscopic data from the Sloan…
Nearby dwarf irregular galaxies were searched for compact star clusters using data from the HST archives. Three of the galaxies were found to host both populous clusters (M_V<-9.5 at a fiducial age of 10 Myr) and super-star clusters…
Star clusters are observed to form in a highly compact state and with low star-formation efficiencies, and only 10 per cent of all clusters appear to survive to middle- and old-dynamical age. If the residual gas is expelled on a dynamical…
Velocity dispersion measurements are presented for luminous GCs in NGC 5128 derived from high-res. UVES spectra. The measurements are made with the pPXF code that parametrically recovers line-of-sight velocity dispersions. Combining the…
We use Hubble Space Telescope imaging to show that the nearby dwarf starburst galaxy NGC 4449 has an unusual abundance of luminous red star clusters. Joint constraints from integrated photometry, low-resolution spectroscopy, dynamical…
Globular Cluster (GC) formation seems to be a widespread mode of star formation in extreme starbursts triggered by strong interactions and mergers of massive gas-rich galaxies. We use our detailed chemically consistent evolutionary…