Related papers: The Globular Cluster Luminosity Function as a Dist…
Collisional relaxation describes the stochastic process with which a self-gravitating system near equilibrium evolves in phase space due to the fluctuating gravitational field of the system. The characteristic timescale of this process is…
We summarize the results of recent theoretical work on the dynamical evolution of globular clusters containing primordial binaries. Even a very small initial binary fraction (e.g., 10%) can play a key role in supporting a cluster against…
Numerical simulations of the dynamical friction suffered by a star cluster near the Galactic center have been performed with a parallelized tree code. Gerhard (2001) has suggested that dynamical friction, which causes a cluster to lose…
Evidence is presented for a recent evolution of the relaxation processes in clusters of galaxies, using large optical and X-ray cluster samples. The criteria of the cluster relaxation used are the cluster ellipticity, the ICM temperature…
A model is developed for an idealised spherical galaxy evolving from a uniform mass distribution at the epoch of galactic separation until attaining an equilibrium state through gravitational collapse. The final theoretical radial surface…
Tidal forces acting on galaxies in clusters lead to a strong dynamical evolution. In order to quantify the amount of evolution, I run self-consistent N-body simulations of disk galaxies for a variety of models in the hierarchically forming…
The universality of the globular cluster luminosity function (GCLF) contrasts the variation seen in the specific frequency ($S_N$). The variation in $S_N$ has been shown to follow a linear relation with $L_X$ for brightest cluster galaxies…
The dynamics of globular cluster systems (GCSs) around galaxies are often used to assess the total enclosed mass, and even to constrain the dark matter distribution. The globular cluster system of a galaxy is typically assumed to be in…
Luminosity function of cluster galaxies provides a fundamental constraint on galaxy evolution in cluster environments. By using the bright member galaxies of a large sample of rich clusters identified from Sloan Digital Sky Survey, we…
The dynamical friction timescale for globular clusters to sink to the center of a dwarf elliptical galaxy (dE) is significantly less than a Hubble time if the halos have King-model or isothermal profiles and the globular clusters formed…
The distance to the centroid of the M31 globular cluster system is determined by fitting theoretical isochrones to the observed red-giant branches of fourteen globular clusters in M31. The mean true distance modulus of the M31 globular…
Globular clusters are compact, gravitationally bound systems of up to a million stars. The GCs in the Milky Way contain some of the oldest stars known, and provide important clues to the early formation and continuing evolution of our…
The dynamical evolution of globular clusters is theoretically described by a series of well known events typical of N-body systems. Still, the identification of observational signatures able to empirically describe the stage of dynamical…
We numerically investigate orbital evolution of star clusters (SCs) under the influence of dynamical friction by field stars of their host disk galaxies embedded in dark matter halos. We find that SCs with masses larger than 2 * 10^5 M_sun…
Dynamical evolution of stellar mass distribution in star clusters is analysed by considering simultaneously the effects of dynamical friction, stochastic heating and the gravitational potential due to mass distribution in the clusters. A…
We have performed a large observing campaign of intermediate-redshift disk galaxies including spectroscopy with the FORS instruments of the VLT and imaging with the Advanced Camera for Surveys onboard the HST. Our data set comprises 113…
The proper motions of stars in the outskirts of globular clusters are used to estimate cluster velocity dispersion profiles as far as possible within their tidal radii. We use individual color-magnitude diagrams to select high probability…
Three important developments are vastly increasing our understanding of the role of binaries in the dynamical evolution of globular clusters. From the observational side, the Hubble Space Telescope has shown us detailed pictures of the…
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…
Globular clusters have linear sizes (tidal radii) which theory tells us are determined by their masses and by the gravitational potential of their host galaxy. To explore the relationship between observed and expected radii, we utilize the…