Related papers: The Gravitational Million-Body Problem
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…
We use direct N-body simulations to study the inspiral and internal evolution of dense star clusters near the Galactic center. These clusters sink toward the center due to dynamical friction with the stellar background, and may go into core…
This review discusses (i) dynamical methods for determining the masses of Galactic and extragalactic star clusters, (ii) dynamical processes and their time-scales for the evolution of clusters, including evaporation, mass segregation, core…
We present N-body simulations of dissolving star clusters close to galactic centres. For this purpose, we developed a new N-body program called nbody6gc based on Aarseth's series of N-body codes. We describe the algorithm in detail. We…
The stellar populations of galaxies contain a wealth of detailed information. From the youngest, most massive stars, to almost invisible remnants, the history of star formation is encoded in the stars that make up a galaxy. Extracting some,…
Our current understanding of the stellar initial mass function and massive star evolution suggests that young globular clusters may have formed hundreds to thousands of stellar-mass black holes, the remnants of stars with initial masses…
We present the results of detailed N-body simulations of clusters moving in a realistic Milky Way (MW) potential. The strong interaction with the bulge and the disk of the Galaxy leads to the formation of tidal tails, emanating from…
Globular clusters (GCs) host multiple stellar populations differing in their chemical and dynamical properties. A number of models for the formation of multiple populations predict that the subsystem of second generation (SG) stars is…
We have performed fully self-consistent $N$-body simulations of star clusters near the Galactic center (GC). Such simulations have not been performed because it is difficult to perform fast and accurate simulations of such systems using…
Binarity among stellar clusters in galaxy is such a reality which has been realized for a long time, but still hides several questions and problems to be solved. Some of binary star clusters are formed by close encounter, but the others are…
We describe results from large numbers of $N$-body simulations containing from $250$ to $1000$ stars each. The distribution of stellar masses is a power law, and the systems are isolated. While the collapse of the core exhibits the expected…
Star clusters are fundamental units of stellar feedback and unique tracers of their host galactic properties. In this review, we will first focus on their constituents, i.e.\ detailed insight into their stellar populations and their…
The mass evaporation rate of globular clusters evolving in a strong Galactic tidal field is derived through the analysis of large, multi-mass $N$-body simulations. For comparison, we also study the same evaporation rates using MOCCA Monte…
Size differences of approx. 20% between red (metal-rich) and blue (metal-poor) sub-populations of globular clusters have been observed, generating an ongoing debate as to weather these originate from projection effects or the difference in…
We collected radial velocities of more than 50.000 individual stars in 156 Galactic globular clusters (GGC) and matched them with HST photometry and Gaia DR2 proper motions. This allowed us to derive the GGC's mean proper motions and space…
Recent observations indicate that in some Milky Way globular clusters (GCs) pristine red giant branch (RGB) stars appear more centrally concentrated than enriched ones. This contradicts most multiple stellar population (MSP) formation…
Stellar tidal streams are sensitive tracers of the properties of the gravitational potential in which they orbit and detailed observations of their density structure can be used to place stringent constraints on fluctuations in the…
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…
Self-gravitating systems have acquired growing interest in statistical mechanics, due to the peculiarities of the 1/r potential. Indeed, the usual approach of statistical mechanics cannot be applied to a system of many point particles…
Observations have revealed that most stars are born in clusters. These systems, containing from tens to thousands of stars and typically significant mass in gas in the youngest systems, evolve due to a combination of stellar and star-gas…