Related papers: Destruction of the Galactic Globular Cluster Syste…
The parameter A+, defined as the area enclosed between the cumulative radial distribution of blue straggler stars (BSSs) and that of a reference population, is a powerful indicator of the level of BSS central segregation. As part of the…
We calculate orbits, tidal radii, and bulge-bar and disk shocking destruction rates for 63 globular clusters in our Galaxy. Orbits are integrated in both an axisymmetric and a non-axisymmetric Galactic potential that includes a bar and a 3D…
We present new models of the evolution and dissolution of star clusters evolving under the combined influence of internal relaxation and external tidal fields, using the anisotropic gaseous model based on the Fokker-Planck approximation,…
The discovery of multiple stellar populations in globular clusters raises fundamental questions concerning the formation and dynamical history of these systems. In a previous study aimed at exploring the formation of second-generation (SG)…
Updated data of the 153 Galactic globular clusters are used to readdress fundamental parameters of the Milky Way. We build a reduced sample, decontaminated of the clusters younger than 10Gyr, those with retrograde orbits and/or evidence of…
Galaxies in clusters are gas-deficient and a number of possible explanations for this observation have been advanced, including galaxy-cluster tidal interactions, galaxy harassment, and ISM-ICM gas stripping. In this paper, we use a…
We present a series of simple, largely analytical models to compute the effects of disruption on the mass function of star clusters. Our calculations include evaporation by two-body relaxation and gravitational shocks and mass loss by…
Using deep photometric data from WFC@INT and [email protected] we measure the outer number density profiles of 19 stellar clusters located in the inner region of the Milky Way halo (within a Galactocentric distance range of 10-30 kpc) in order to…
Large-field multi-color images of 20 galactic globular clusters are used to investigate the presence of tidal tails around these stellar systems. Field and cluster stars are sorted with the help of color-magnitude diagrams, and star-count…
Globular clusters rotate significantly, and with the increasing amount of detailed morphologicaland kinematical data obtained in recent years on galactic globular clusters many interesting features show up. We show how our theoretical…
(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…
Most stars, perhaps even all stars, form in crowded stellar environments. Such star forming regions typically dissolve within ten million years, while others remain bound as stellar groupings for hundreds of millions to billions of years,…
Recent N-body simulations have shown that there is a serious discrepancy between the results of the N-body simulations and the results of Fokker-Planck simulations for the evolution of globular and rich open clusters under the influence of…
We use direct $N$-body calculations to investigate the impact of primordial mass segregation on the size scale and mass-loss rate of star clusters in a galactic tidal field. We run a set of simulations of clusters with varying degrees of…
It has been known since the 1950's that the observed gas content of Galactic globular clusters (GCs) is 2-3 orders of magnitude less than the mass lost by stars between Galactic disk crossings. In this work we address the question: What…
Until recently our knowledge of the Galactic Bulge stellar populations was based on the study of a few low extinction windows. Large photometric and spectroscopic surveys are now underway to map large areas of the bulge. They probe several…
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…
We investigated the evolution of clusters of galaxies using self-consistent $N$-body simulations in which each galaxy was modeled by many particles. We carried out simulations for about 20 cases using different initial conditions. In all…
We present new constraints on the initial mass spectrum of the Galactic Old Halo globular clusters. This has remained poorly-known so far, as both an initial power-law mass spectrum and an initial lognormal mass function could have evolved…
Utilizing a series of N-body simulations, we argue that gravitationally bound stellar clusters of modest population evolve very differently from the picture presented by classical dynamical relaxation theory. The system's most massive stars…