Related papers: Observational Constraints on Cluster Evolution
Stellar populations contain the most important information about star clus- ter formation and evolution. Until several decades ago, star clusters were believed to be ideal laboratories for studies of simple stellar populations (SSPs).…
Stars form in dense, dusty clumps of molecular clouds, but little is known about their origin and evolution. In particular, the relationship between the mass distribution of these clumps (also known as the "clump mass function", or CMF) and…
The observed distribution of IMF shapes can be understood as statistical sampling from a universal IMF and variations that result from stellar-dynamical processes. However, young star clusters appear to have an IMF biased towards low-mass…
In this review, I will discuss a few problems which point to the need for improved stellar evolution models of halo stars. Current stellar evolution models do not match the observed $^7$Li abundance patterns, suggesting that the input…
The fraction of stellar mass contained in globular clusters (GCs), also measured by number as the specific frequency, is a fundamental quantity that reflects both a galaxy's early star formation and its entire merging history. We present…
Observations of the dust and gas around embedded stellar clusters reveal some of the processes involved in their formation and evolution. Large scale mass infall with rates dM/dt=4e-4 solar masses/year is found to be disrupted on small…
All stars are born in molecular clouds, and most in giant molecular clouds (GMCs), which thus set the star formation activity of galaxies. We first review their observed properties, including measures of mass surface density, Sigma, and…
This paper reviews the current status of measurements of galaxy clustering at high redshifts (z > 0.3). The focus is on the inherent limitations in the observation and interpretation of the ``evolution of clustering''. It is likely that…
We present the results of a survey of N-body simulations aimed at studying the effects of the long-term dynamical evolution on the stellar mass function (MF) of multiple stellar populations in globular clusters. Our simulations show that if…
The measured star-formation rates (SFRs) of galaxies comprise an important constraint on galaxy evolution and also on their cosmological boundary conditions. Any available tracer of the SFR depends on the shape of the mass-distribution of…
We present the galaxy stellar mass function (MF) and its evolution in clusters from z~0.8 to the current epoch, based on the WIde-field Nearby Galaxy-cluster Survey (WINGS) (0.04<z<0.07), and the ESO Distant Cluster Survey (EDisCS) (0.4<z…
Recent work on globular cluster systems in dwarf galaxies outside the Local Group is reviewed. Recent large imaging surveys with the Hubble Space Telescope and follow-up spectroscopy with 8-m class telescopes now allow us to compare the…
Stars do not form continuously distributed over star forming galaxies. They form in star clusters of different masses. This nature of clustered star formation is taken into account in the theory of the integrated galactic stellar initial…
We have performed N-body simulations of poor clusters with enough particles to resolve the individual galaxies. The main cases of initial conditions are: (i) 50 equal mass galaxies; (ii) 60 galaxies with masses drawn from a Schechter…
The combination of a finite time-scale for star formation, rapid early stellar evolution and rapid stellar-dynamical processes imply that the stellar IMF cannot be inferred for any star cluster independently of its age (the Cluster IMF…
When star clusters are formed at low star-formation rates (SFRs), their stellar initial mass function (IMF) can hardly be filled continuously with stars at each mass. This lack holds for massive stars and is observationally verified by the…
We built Galactic open star cluster mass functions (CMFs) for different age sub-samples in the wider solar neighbourhood. We present a simple cluster formation and evolution model to reproduce the main features of the CMFs. We used an…
We show that the galaxy correlation function does not evolve in proportion with the correlation function of the underlying mass distribution. Earliest galaxies cluster very strongly and the amplitude of the galaxy correlation function…
Most globular clusters have half-mass radii of a few pc with no apparent correlation with their masses. This is different from elliptical galaxies, for which the Faber-Jackson relation suggests a strong positive correlation between mass and…
The formation of stars with light-element abundance variations in globular clusters and the subsequent dynamical evolution of these multiple populations remains an open question. One of the most widely discussed is the AGB scenario, in…