Related papers: Observations meets theory in clustered star format…
Galaxy interactions are known to trigger starbursts. Young massive star clusters formed in interacting galaxies and mergers may become young globular clusters. The ages of these clusters can provide clues about the timing of…
How starburst clusters form out of molecular clouds is still an open question. In this article, I highlight some of the key constraints in this regard, that one can get from the dynamical evolutionary properties of dense stellar systems. I…
In this review, I present the case for how massive stars may form through stellar collisions. This mechanism requires very high stellar densities, up to 4 orders of magnitude higher than are observed in the cores of dense young clusters. In…
We study the evolution of star clusters located in the outer regions of a galaxy undergoing a sudden mass loss through gas expulsion in the framework of Milgromian dynamics (MOND) by means of N-body simulations. We find that, to leave a…
The presence or absence of star clusters in galaxies, and the properties of star cluster populations compared to their host galaxy properties, are important observables for validating models of cluster formation, galaxy formation, and…
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…
Observations indicate that young massive star clusters in spiral and dwarf galaxies follow a relation between luminosity of the brightest young cluster and the star-formation rate (SFR) of the host galaxy, in the sense that higher SFRs lead…
To understand how systems of star clusters have reached their presently observed properties constitutes a powerful probe into the physics of cluster formation, without needing to resort to high spatial resolution observations of individual…
We present simulations of the dynamical evolution of young embedded star clusters. Our initial conditions are directly derived from X-ray, infrared, and radio observations of local systems, and our models evolve both gas and stars…
Mass segregation is observed in many star clusters, including several that are less than a few Myr old. Timescale arguments are frequently used to argue that these clusters must be displaying primordial segregation, because they are too…
Many embedded star clusters do not evolve into long-lived bound clusters. The most popular explanation for this "infant mortality" of young clusters is the expulsion of natal gas by stellar winds and supernovae, which leaves up to 90% of…
We perform simulations of star cluster formation to investigate the morphological evolution of embedded star clusters in the earliest stages of their evolution. We conduct our simulations with Torch, which uses the AMUSE framework to couple…
I review observational studies of the large-scale star formation process in nearby galaxies. A wealth of new multi-wavelength data provide an unprecedented view on the interplay of the interstellar medium and (young) stellar populations on…
The study of young massive clusters can provide key information for the formation of globular clusters, as they are often considered analogues. A currently unanswered question in this field is how long these massive clusters remain embedded…
We investigate the response of initially substructured, young, embedded star clusters to instantaneous gas expulsion of their natal gas. We introduce primordial substructure to the stars and the gas by simplistically modelling the star…
We present a study of the hierarchical clustering of the young stellar clusters in six local (3--15 Mpc) star-forming galaxies using Hubble Space Telescope broad band WFC3/UVIS UV and optical images from the Treasury Program LEGUS (Legacy…
We explore the constraints on globular cluster formation provided by the observed conditions in starbursts where globulars are currently forming, and by the observed properties of young and old globular clusters. We note that the pressure…
Stars in star clusters are thought to form in a single burst from a common progenitor cloud of molecular gas. However, massive, old globular clusters -- with ages greater than 10 billion years and masses of several hundred thousand solar…
We have carried out a large set of N-body simulations studying the effect of residual-gas expulsion on the survival rate and final properties of star clusters. We have varied the star formation efficiency, gas expulsion timescale and…
Young stellar clusters across nearly five orders of magnitude in mass appear to follow a power-law mass-radius relationship (MRR), $R_{\star} \propto M_{\star}^{\alpha}$, with $\alpha \approx 0.2 - 0.33$. We develop a simple analytic model…