Related papers: Weighing the young stellar discs around Sgr A*
By means of three-dimensional hydrodynamical simulations, we investigate the formation of second generation (SG) stars in young globular clusters of different masses. We consider clusters with a first generation of asymptotic giant branch…
The recent finding that the IGIMF (integrated galaxial initial stellar mass function) composed of all newly formed stars in all young star clusters has, in dependence of the SFR, a steeper slope in the high mass regime than the underlying…
We present the first results of a pilot study aimed at understanding the influence of bars on the evolution of galaxy discs through the study of their stellar content. We examine here the kinematics, star formation history, mass-weighted,…
Theory predicts and observations confirm that low-mass stars (like the Sun) in their early life grow by accreting gas from the surrounding material. But for stars ~ 10 times more massive than the Sun (~10 M_sun), the powerful stellar…
The very first stars to form in the Universe heralded an end to the cosmic dark ages and introduced new physical processes that shaped early cosmic evolution. Until now, it was thought that these stars lived short, solitary lives, with only…
In our hierarchical structure-formation paradigm, the observed morphological evolution of massive galaxies -- from rotationally-supported discs to dispersion-dominated spheroids -- is largely explained via galaxy merging. However, since…
Within the central parsec of the Galaxy, several tens of young stars orbiting a central supermassive black hole are observed. A subset of these stars forms a coherently rotating disc. Other observations reveal a massive molecular torus…
To understand the formation of stellar groups, one must first document carefully the birth pattern within real clusters and associations. In this study of Taurus-Auriga, we combine pre-main-sequence ages from our own evolutionary tracks…
We compare the history of the galaxy mass build-up, as inferred from near-IR observations, and the Star Formation Rate of massive stars in the comoving volume traced by deep extensive far-IR surveys, both possible now with the Spitzer Space…
There is increasing evidence that low mass stars with circumstellar disks can be born close to massive stars, in some cases within tenths of a pc. If the disks have lifetimes greater than those of the more massive stars, they are exposed to…
We derive a semi-empirical galactic initial mass function (IMF) from observational constraints. We assume that the star formation rate in a galaxy can be expressed as the product of the IMF, $\psi (m)$, which is a smooth function of mass…
We consider the dynamical evolution of a disk of stars orbiting a central black hole. In particular, we focus on the effect of the stellar mass function on the evolution of the disk, using both analytic arguments and numerical simulations.…
When the cosmic star formation history peaks (z ~ 2), galaxies vigorously fed by cosmic reservoirs are gas dominated and contain massive star-forming clumps, thought to form by violent gravitational instabilities in highly turbulent…
We aim to discern scenarios of structural evolution of intermediate to high-mass star-forming galaxies (SFGs) since cosmic noon by comparing their stellar mass profiles with present-day stellar masses of…
The evolution of the galaxy stellar mass--star formation rate relationship (M*-SFR) provides key constraints on the stellar mass assembly histories of galaxies. For star-forming galaxies, M*-SFR is observed to be fairly tight with a slope…
The Galactic centre stands out as the most prolific star-forming environment of the Galaxy when averaged over volume. In the last 30 million years, it has witnessed the formation of $\sim10^6 M_\odot$ of stars. However, crowding and high…
In recent years, it has been demonstrated that massive stars see their infant circumstellar medium shaped into a large, irradiated, gravitationally unstable accretion disc during their early formation phase. Such discs constitute the gas…
Massive stars (with mass m_* > 8 solar masses) are fundamental to the evolution of galaxies, because they produce heavy elements, inject energy into the interstellar medium, and possibly regulate the star formation rate. The individual star…
We explore the dynamics of stellar discs in the close vicinity of a supermassive black hole (SMBH) by means of direct $N$-body simulations. We show that an isolated nuclear stellar disc exhibits anisotropic mass segregation meaning that…
Young massive clusters (YMCs) are usually accompanied by lower-mass clusters and unbound stars with a total mass equal to several tens times the mass of the YMC. If this was also true when globular clusters (GCs) formed, then their cosmic…