English

The Early Evolution of Star Clusters in Compressive and Extensive Tidal Fields

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics 2017-04-12 v1 Astrophysics of Galaxies

Abstract

We present N-body simulations of star clusters that initially evolve within a strong compressive tidal field and then transition into extensive tidal fields of varying strengths. While subject to compressive tides, clusters can undergo significant heating due to two-body interactions and mass loss due to stellar evolution. When the cluster transitions into an extensive tidal field it is super-virialized, which leads to a rapid expansion and significant mass loss before the cluster reaches virial equilibrium. After the transition, clusters are significantly less massive, more extended and therefore more tidally filling than clusters which have spent their entire lifetime in a similar extensive tidal field.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1702.03299,
  title  = {The Early Evolution of Star Clusters in Compressive and Extensive Tidal Fields},
  author = {Jeremy J. Webb and Saahil S. Patel and Enrico Vesperini},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1702.03299},
  year   = {2017}
}

Comments

5 pages, 4 figures, Accepted for publication in MNRAS Letters

R2 v1 2026-06-22T18:15:15.229Z