Related papers: From Globular Clusters to Tidal Dwarfs: Structure …
We examine the outer structure of 12 Galactic globular clusters using star-count analyses. Deep, two-color, photographic photometry is used to select and count stars with colors and magnitudes consistent with cluster-specific,…
The evolution of galaxies is driven strongly by dynamical processes including internal instabilities, tidal interactions and mergers. The cluster environment is a useful laboratory for studying these effects. I present recent results on…
While major mergers and their tidal debris are well studied, they are less common than minor mergers (mass ratios < 0.3). The peculiar spiral NGC 2782 is the result of a merger between two disk galaxies with a mass ratio of ~4:1 occurring…
We discuss recent observational and numerical work on tidal tails in globular clusters. Evidence of tidal tails has now been found in 16 Galactic globulars and 4 globulars in M31. Simulations indicate that mapping of these tidal tails over…
We present a photometric analysis of the rich star cluster population in the tidal tails of NGC 6872. We find star clusters with ages between 1 - 100 Myr distributed in the tidal tails, while the tails themselves have an age of less than…
We present some results of numerical simulations of a globular cluster orbiting in the central region of a triaxial galaxy on a set of 'loop' orbits. Tails start forming after about a quarter of the globular cluster orbital period and…
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…
Most stars in galactic disks are believed to be born as a member of star clusters or associations. Star clusters formed in disks are disrupted due to the tidal stripping and the evolution of star clusters themselves, and as a results new…
Long tails and streams of stars are the most noticeable upshots of galaxy collisions. Their origin as gravitational, tidal, disturbances has however been recognized only less than fifty years ago and more than ten years after their first…
The orbital decay and tidal disruption of a star cluster in a galaxy is studied in an analytical manner. Owing to dynamical friction, the star cluster spirals in toward the center of the galaxy. Simultaneously, the galactic tidal field…
We present results of a Hubble Space Telescope (HST) UBVI-band study of star clusters in tidal tails, using new WFC3 and ACS imaging to complement existing WFPC2 data. We survey 12 tidal tails across seven merging systems, deriving ages and…
The inner Milky Way disk globular cluster NGC~6362 appears to exhibit tidal tails composed of stars that have proper motions and positions in the color-magnitude diagram similar to those of cluster stars. Because recent results seem also to…
Globular clusters formed in galactic mergers (e.g., The Antennae) can now be studied at different stages of their evolution. In young merger remnants (e.g., NGC 7252) these "second-generation" globulars appear by the hundreds as young halo…
Hundreds of globular clusters and dwarf galaxies encircle the Milky Way. Many of these systems have undergone partial disruption due to tidal forces, littering the halo with stellar streams. These tidal tails are sensitive to the Galactic…
Recent images taken with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) of the interacting disk galaxies NGC 4038/4039 (the Antennae) reveal clusters of many dozens and possibly hundreds of young compact massive star clusters within projected regions…
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…
I analyse the projected density distribution of member stars over a wide area surrounding 18 Galactic globular clusters using the photometric and astrometric information provided by the second data release of the Gaia mission. A 5D mixture…
Star formation in starbursts appears to be biased toward compact clusters, with up to 20% of all stars formed in them. Observations with HST show that many of these clusters have luminosities (-9 > Mv > -16), UBVI colors, and half-light…
New GALEX observations have detected significant FUV (1530 Angstroms) and NUV (2310 Angstroms) emission from stellar substructures within the tidal tails of four ongoing galaxy mergers. The UV-bright regions are optically faint and are…
Young stars form on a wide range of scales, producing aggregates and clusters with various degrees of gravitational self-binding. The loose aggregates have a hierarchical structure in both space and time that resembles interstellar…