Related papers: Cluster Disruption: Combining Theory and Observati…
(Abridged) The formation and evolution of star cluster populations are related to the galactic environment. Cluster formation is governed by processes acting on galactic scales, and star cluster disruption is driven by the tidal field. In…
Clusters are the dense inner regions of a wide-spread hierarchy of young stellar structures. They often reveal a continuation of this hierarchy inside of them, to smaller scales, when they are young, but orbital mixing eventually erases…
Observations and N-body simulations both support a simple relation for the disruption time of a cluster as a function of its mass of the form: t_dis = t_4 * (M/10^4 Msun)^gamma. The scaling factor t_4 seems to depend strongly on the…
In previous papers of this series, we developed a new algorithm for modeling the formation of star clusters in galaxy formation simulations. Here we investigate how dissolution of bound star clusters affects the shape of the cluster mass…
The dissolution time (t_dis) of clusters in a tidal field does not scale with the ``classical'' expression for the relaxation time. First, the scaling with N, and hence cluster mass, is shallower due to the finite escape time of stars.…
ABRIDGED: We obtain new age and mass estimates for the star clusters in M82's fossil starburst region B, based on improved fitting methods. Our new age estimates confirm the peak in the age histogram attributed to the last tidal encounter…
An overview of our current understanding of the formation and evolution of star clusters is given, with main emphasis on high-mass clusters. Clusters form deeply embedded within dense clouds of molecular gas. Left-over gas is cleared within…
The early evolution of star clusters in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) has been the subject of significant recent controversy, particularly regarding the importance and length of the earliest, largely mass-independent disruption phase…
The population and population composition of galaxies in galaxy clusters at present reflect the mass of the clusters and the mass growth of the galaxies in the past. We investigate them for six clusters. We show that galaxies in massive…
We study the stellar cluster population in two adjacent fields in the nearby, face-on spiral galaxy, M83, using WFC3/HST imaging. The clusters are selected through visual inspection to be centrally concentrated, symmetric, and resolved on…
We predict the survival time of initially bound star clusters in the solar neighbourhood taking into account: (1) stellar evolution, (2) tidal stripping, (3) shocking by spiral arms and (4) encounters with giant molecular clouds. We find…
We investigate encounters between giant molecular clouds (GMCs) and star clusters. We propose a single expression for the energy gain of a cluster due to an encounter with a GMC, valid for all encounter distances and GMC properties. This…
We reexamine the age distribution of star clusters in the Antennae in the context of N-body+hydrodynamical simulations of these interacting galaxies. All of the simulations that account for the observed morphology and other properties of…
Star clusters are observed to form in a highly compact state and with low star-formation efficiencies, and only 10 per cent of all clusters appear to survive to middle- and old-dynamical age. If the residual gas is expelled on a dynamical…
I present recent observations and analyses of star cluster formation in a wide variety of environments -- from young star clusters and super star clusters in normal actively star-forming spirals and irregulars to starbursting dwarfs and…
Understanding the evolution of stellar clusters in an evolving tidal field is critical for studying the disruption of stellar clusters in a cosmological context. We systematically characterise the response of stellar clusters to tidal…
The evolution of star clusters is studied using N-body simulations in which the evolution of single stars and binaries are taken self-consistently into account. Initial conditions are chosen to represent relatively young Galactic open…
In a series of three papers, we introduced a novel cluster formation model that describes the formation, growth, and disruption of star clusters in high-resolution cosmological simulations. We tested this model on a Milky Way-sized galaxy…
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…
Stars form predominantly in groups which display a broad spectrum of masses, sizes, and other properties. Despite this diversity there exist an underlying structure that can constrain cluster formation theories. We show how combining…