Related papers: Stellar Exotica produced from Stellar Encounters
Close to 70 radio pulsars have now been discovered in 23 globular clusters, with a record 22 pulsars observed in 47 Tuc alone. Accurate timing solutions, including positions in the cluster, are known for many of the pulsars. These recent…
Abundance anomalies observed in globular cluster stars indicate pollution with material processed by hydrogen burning. Two main sources have been suggested: asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars and massive stars rotating near the break-up…
We summarize the results of recent theoretical work on the dynamical evolution of globular clusters containing primordial binaries. Even a very small initial binary fraction (e.g., 10%) can play a key role in supporting a cluster against…
The discovery of Exoplanetary Systems has challenged some of the theories of planet formation, which assume unperturbed evolution of the host star and its planets. However, in star clusters the interactions with flyby stars and binaries may…
We present a new dynamical scenario for the formation of short-period binary millisecond pulsars in globular clusters. Our work is motivated by the recent observations of 20 radio pulsars in 47 Tuc. In a dense cluster such as 47 Tuc, most…
In this paper, the first of a series, we study the stellar dynamical and evolutionary processes leading to the formation of compact binaries containing white dwarfs in dense globular clusters. We examine the processes leading to the…
We study the process of dynamical capture of a millisecond pulsar (MSP) by a single or binary IMBH, simulating various types of single-binary and binary-binary encounters. It is found that [IMBH,MSP] binaries form over cosmic time in a…
The observed distribution of globular cluster binary radio pulsars in the eccentricity versus orbital period plane can be explained as a result of binary-single star interactions. Our numerical and analytical study hints that the highest…
By using the high resolution spectrograph FLAMES@VLT we performed the first systematic campaign devoted to measure chemical abundances of blue straggler stars (BSSs). These stars, whose existence is not predicted by the canonical stellar…
Globular clusters produce many exotic stars due to a much higher frequency of dynamical interactions in their dense stellar environments. Some of these objects were observed together with several hundred thousands other stars in our MUSE…
Two generations of stars, G1 and G2, typically populate Galactic globular clusters (GCs). The origin of G2 stars is unclear. We uncover two empirical dependencies between GC characteristics, which can be explained by the formation of G2…
It was recently demonstrated that contact binaries occur in globular clusters (GCs) only immediately below turn-off point and in the region of blue straggler stars (BSs). In addition, observations indicate that at least a significant…
This review concentrates almost entirely on globular star clusters. It emphasises the increasing realisation that few of the traditional problems of star cluster astronomy can be studied in isolation: the influence of the Galaxy affects…
Physical collisions and close approaches between stars play an important role in the formation of exotic stellar systems. Standard theories suggest that collisions are rare, occurring only via random encounters between stars in dense…
We investigate the relationship between Low Mass X-ray Binaries (LMXBs) and globular clusters (GCs) using UKIRT observations of M31 and existing Chandra, XMM-Newton, and ROSAT catalogues. By fitting King models to these data we have…
Over a hundred millisecond radio pulsars (MSPs) have been observed in globular clusters (GCs), motivating theoretical studies of the formation and evolution of these sources through stellar evolution coupled to stellar dynamics. Here we…
A significant fraction of millisecond pulsars (MSPs) in globular clusters (GCs) are observed as isolated objects, despite the widely accepted scenario in which MSPs are formed through recycling in compact binary systems. The origin of these…
We examine the possibility that very massive stars greatly exceeding the commonly adopted stellar mass limit of 150 Msun may be present in young star clusters in the local universe. We identify ten candidate clusters, some of which may host…
The stars that populate the solar neighbourhood were formed in stellar clusters. Through N-body simulations of these clusters, we measure the rate of close encounters between stars. By monitoring the interaction histories of each star, we…
A number of theories have been put forward to explain the bi-modal stellar rotational distribution observed in young massive clusters. These include stellar mergers and interactions induced in binary systems, and the role of angular…