Showing papers on "Mass segregation published in 2018"

A catalogue of masses, structural parameters, and velocity dispersion profiles of 112 Milky Way globular clusters

Abstract: We have determined masses, stellar mass functions, and structural parameters of 112 Milky Way globular clusters by fitting a large set of N-body simulations to their velocity dispersion and surface density profiles. The velocity dispersion profiles were calculated based on a combination of more than 15000 high-precision radial velocities which we derived from archival ESO/VLT and Keck spectra together with similar to 20000 published radial velocities from the literature. Our fits also include the stellar mass functions of the globular clusters, which are available for 47 clusters in our sample, allowing us to self-consistently take the effects of mass segregation and ongoing cluster dissolution into account. We confirm the strong correlation between the global mass functions of globular clusters and their relaxation times recently found by Sollima & Baumgardt (2017). We also find a correlation of the escape velocity from the centre of a globular cluster and the fraction of first generation stars (FG) in the cluster recently derived for 57 globular clusters by Milone et al. (2017), but no correlation between the FG star fraction and the global mass function of a globular cluster. This could indicate that the ability of a globular cluster to keep the wind ejecta from the polluting star(s) is the crucial parameter determining the presence and fraction of second-generation stars and not its later dynamical mass loss.

Galaxy evolution in the metric of the cosmic web

Abstract: The role of the cosmic web in shaping galaxy properties is investigated in the Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA) spectroscopic survey in the redshift range 0.03 ≤ z ≤ 0.25. The stellar mass, u − r dust corrected colour and specific star formation rate (sSFR) of galaxies are analysed as a function of their distances to the 3D cosmic web features, such as nodes, filaments and walls, as reconstructed by DisPerSE. Significant mass and type/colour gradients are found for the whole population, with more massive and/or passive galaxies being located closer to the filament and wall than their less massive and/or star-forming counterparts. Mass segregation persists among the star-forming population alone. The red fraction of galaxies increases when closing in on nodes, and on filaments regardless of the distance to nodes. Similarly, the star-forming population reddens (or lowers its sSFR) at fixed mass when closing in on filament, implying that some quenching takes place. These trends are also found in the state-of-the-art hydrodynamical simulation Horizon-AGN. These results suggest that on top of stellar mass and large-scale density, the traceless component of the tides from the anisotropic large-scale environment also shapes galactic properties. An extension of excursion theory accounting for filamentary tides provides a qualitative explanation in terms of anisotropic assembly bias: at a given mass, the accretion rate varies with the orientation and distance to filaments. It also explains the absence of type/colour gradients in the data on smaller, non-linear scales.

Structure and mass segregation in Galactic stellar clusters

Abstract: We quantify the structure of a very large number of Galactic open clusters and look for evidence of mass segregation for the most massive stars in the clusters. We characterize the structure and mass segregation ratios of 1276 clusters in the Milky Way Stellar Cluster (MWSC) catalogue containing each at least 40 stars and that are located at a distance of up to ≈2 kpc from the Sun. We use an approach based on the calculation of the minimum spanning tree of the clusters, and for each one of them, we calculate the structure parameter Q and the mass segregation ratio MSR. Our findings indicate that most clusters possess a Q parameter that falls in the range 0.7–0.8 and are thus neither strongly concentrated nor do they show significant substructure. Only 27 per cent can be considered centrally concentrated with Q values >0.8. Of the 1276 clusters, only 14 per cent show indication of significant mass segregation (MSR > 1.5). Furthermore, no correlation is found between the structure of the clusters or the degree of mass segregation with their position in the Galaxy. A comparison of the measured Q values for the young open clusters in the MWSC to N-body numerical simulations that follow the evolution of the Q parameter over the first 10 Myr of the clusters life suggests that the young clusters found in the MWSC catalogue initially possessed local mean volume densities of ρ∗ ≈ 10–100 M� pc−3.

Gas expulsion versus gas retention in young stellar clusters–II. Effects of cooling and mass segregation

Abstract: Gas expulsion or gas retention is a central issue in most of the models for multiple stellar populations and light element anti-correlations in globular clusters. The success of the residual matter expulsion or its retention within young stellar clusters has also a fundamental importance in order to understand how star formation proceeds in present-day and ancient star-forming galaxies and if proto-globular clusters with multiple stellar populations are formed in the present epoch. It is usually suggested that either the residual gas is rapidly ejected from star-forming clouds by stellar winds and supernova explosions, or that the enrichment of the residual gas and the formation of the second stellar generation occur so rapidly, that the negative stellar feedback is not significant. Here we continue our study of the early development of star clusters in the extreme environments and discuss the restrictions that strong radiative cooling and stellar mass segregation provide on the gas expulsion from dense star-forming clouds. A large range of physical initial conditions in star-forming clouds which include the star-forming cloud mass, compactness, gas metallicity, star formation efficiency and effects of massive stars segregation are discussed. It is shown that in sufficiently massive and compact clusters hot shocked winds around individual massive stars may cool before merging with their neighbors. This dramatically reduces the negative stellar feedback, prevents the development of the global star cluster wind and expulsion of the residual and the processed matter into the ambient interstellar medium. The critical lines which separate the gas expulsion and the gas retention regimes are obtained.

The Unusual Initial Mass Function of the Arches Cluster

Abstract: As a young massive cluster in the Central Molecular Zone, the Arches cluster is a valuable probe of the stellar Initial Mass Function (IMF) in the extreme Galactic Center environment. We use multi-epoch Hubble Space Telescope observations to obtain high-precision proper motion and photometric measurements of the cluster, calculating cluster membership probabilities for stars down to 1.8 M$_{\odot}$ between cluster radii of 0.25 pc -- 3.0 pc. We achieve a cluster sample with just ~8% field contamination, a significant improvement over photometrically-selected samples which are severely compromised by the differential extinction across the field. Combining this sample with K-band spectroscopy of 5 cluster members, we forward model the Arches cluster to simultaneously constrain its IMF and other properties (such as age and total mass) while accounting for observational uncertainties, completeness, mass segregation, and stellar multiplicity. We find that the Arches IMF is best described by a 1-segment power law that is significantly top-heavy: $\alpha$ = 1.80 $\pm$ 0.05 (stat) $\pm$ 0.06 (sys), where dN/dm $\propto$ m$^{-\alpha}$, though we cannot discount a 2-segment power law model with a high-mass slope only slightly shallower than local star forming regions ($\alpha$ = 2.04$^{+0.14}_{-0.19}$ $\pm$ 0.04) but with a break at 5.8$^{+3.2}_{-1.2}$ $\pm$ 0.02 M$_{\odot}$. In either case, the Arches IMF is significantly different than the standard IMF. Comparing the Arches to other young massive clusters in the Milky Way, we find tentative evidence for a systematically top-heavy IMF at the Galactic Center.

Gravitational wave driven mergers and coalescence time of supermassive black holes

Abstract: The evolution of Supermassive Black Holes (SMBHs) initially embedded in the centres of merging galaxies realised with a stellar mass function (SMF) is studied from the onset of galaxy mergers till coalescence. We performed a large set of direct N-body simulations with three different slopes of the central stellar cusp and different random seeds. Post Newtonian terms up to order 3.5 are used to drive the SMBH binary evolution in the relativistic regime. The impact of a SMF on the hardening rate and the coalescence time is investigated. We find that SMBH binaries coalesce well within one billion years when our models are scaled to galaxies with a steep cusp at low redshift. Here higher central densities provide larger supply of stars to efficiently extract energy from the SMBH binary orbit and shrink it to the phase where gravitational wave (GW) emission becomes dominant leading to the coalescence of the SMBHs. Mergers of models with shallow cusps that are representative for giant elliptical galaxies having central cores result in less efficient extraction of binary orbital energy due to the lower stellar densities in the centre. However, high values of eccentricity witnessed for SMBH binaries in such galaxy mergers ensure that the GW emission dominated phase sets in earlier at larger values of the semi-major axis. This helps to compensate for the less efficient energy extraction during the phase dominated by stellar encounters resulting in mergers of SMBHs in about one Gyr after the formation of the binary. Additionally, we witness mass segregation in the merger remnant resulting in enhanced SMBH binary hardening rates. We show that at least the final phase of the merger in cuspy low mass galaxies would be observable with the GW detector eLISA.

Extended stellar systems in the solar neighborhood - I. The tidal tails of the Hyades

Abstract: We report the discovery of two well-defined tidal tails emerging from the Hyades star cluster. The tails were detected in Gaia DR2 data by selecting cluster members in the three-dimensional galactocentric cylindrical velocity space. The robustness of our member selection is reinforced by the fact that the sources depict an almost noiseless, coeval stellar main sequence in the observational Hertzsprung-Russel diagram. The spatial arrangement of the selected members represents a highly flattened shape with respect to the direction of movement along the clusters' orbit in the Galaxy. The size of the entire structure, within the limits of the observations, measures about 200 pc in its largest extent, while being only about 25 pc thick. This translates to an on-sky extent of well beyond 100 deg. Intriguingly, a top-down view on the spatial distribution reveals as distinct S-shape, reminiscent of tidal tails both observed for globular clusters, as well as modelled for star clusters bound to the Galactic disk. Even more remarkable, the spatial arrangement, as well as the velocity dispersion of our source selection is in excellent agreement with previously published theoretical predictions for the tidal tails of the Hyades. An investigation into observed signatures of equipartition of kinetic energy, i.e. mass segregation, remains unsuccessful, most likely due to the sensitivity limit for radial velocity measurements with Gaia.

Intermediate-mass ratio inspirals in galactic nuclei

Abstract: In this paper, we study the secular dynamical evolution of binaries composed of intermediate-mass and stellar-mass black holes (IMBHs and SBHs, respectively) in orbit about a central supermassive black hole (SMBH) in galactic nuclei. Such BH triplets could form via the inspiral of globular clusters (GC) toward galactic nuclei due to dynamical friction, or even major/minor galaxy mergers. We perform, for reasonable initial conditions that we justify, sophisticated N-body simulations that include both regularization and Post-Newtonian corrections. We find that mass segregation combined with Kozai–Lidov oscillations induced by the primary SMBH can effectively merge IMBH–SBH binaries on time-scales much shorter than gravitational wave emission alone. Moreover, the rate of such extreme mass ratio inspirals could be high (∼1 Gpc^−3 yr^−1) in the local Universe, but these are expected to be associated with recent GC infall or major/minor mergers, making the observational signatures of such events (e.g. tidal debris) good diagnostics for searching for SMBH–IMBH–SBH mergers. A small fraction could also be associated with tidal disruption events by the IMBH–SBH during inspiral.

Evolution of the Stellar Mass Function in Multiple-Population Globular Clusters

Abstract: 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 first-(1G) and second-generation (2G) stars have the same initial MF (IMF), the global MFs of the two populations are affected similarly by dynamical evolution and no significant differences between the 1G and the 2G MFs arise during the cluster's evolution. If the two populations have different IMFs, dynamical effects do not completely erase memory of the initial differences. Should observations find differences between the global 1G and 2G MF, these would reveal the fingerprints of differences in their IMFs. Irrespective of whether the 1G and 2G populations have the same global IMF or not, dynamical effects can produce differences between the local (measured at various distances from the cluster centre) 1G and 2G MFs; these differences are a manifestation of the process of mass segregation in populations with different initial structural properties. In dynamically old and spatially mixed clusters, however, differences between the local 1G and 2G MFs can reveal differences between the 1G and 2G global MFs. In general, for clusters with any dynamical age, large differences between the local 1G and 2G MFs are more likely to be associated with differences in the global MF. Our study also reveals a dependence of the spatial mixing rate on the stellar mass, another dynamical consequence of the multiscale nature of multiple-population clusters.

Young Cluster Berkeley 59: Properties, Evolution, and Star Formation

Abstract: Berkeley 59 is a nearby ($\sim$1 kpc) young cluster associated with the Sh2-171 H{\sc ii} region. We present deep optical observations of the central $\sim$2.5$\times$2.5 pc$^2$ area of the cluster, obtained with the 3.58-m Telescopio Nazionale Galileo. The $V$/($V$-$I$) color-magnitude diagram manifests a clear pre-main-sequence (PMS) population down to $\sim$ 0.2 M$_\odot$. Using the near-infrared and optical colors of the low-mass PMS members we derive a global extinction of A$_V$= 4 mag and a mean age of $\sim$ 1.8 Myr, respectively, for the cluster. We constructed the initial mass function and found that its global slopes in the mass ranges of 0.2 - 28 M$_\odot$ and 0.2 - 1.5 M$_\odot$ are -1.33 and -1.23, respectively, in good agreement with the Salpeter value in the solar neighborhood. We looked for the radial variation of the mass function and found that the slope is flatter in the inner region than in the outer region, indicating mass segregation. The dynamical status of the cluster suggests that the mass segregation is likely primordial. The age distribution of the PMS sources reveals that the younger sources appear to concentrate close to the inner region compared to the outer region of the cluster, a phenomenon possibly linked to the time evolution of star-forming clouds is discussed. Within the observed area, we derive a total mass of $\sim$ 10$^3$ M$_\odot$ for the cluster. Comparing the properties of Berkeley 59 with other young clusters, we suggest it resembles more to the Trapezium cluster.

Distribution of Serpens South protostars revealed with ALMA

Abstract: Aims: We investigated the masses and spatial distributions of pre-stellar and protostellar candidates in the young, low-mass star forming region Serpens South, where active star formation is known to occur along a predominant filamentary structure. Previous observations used to study these distributions have been limited by two important observational factors: (1) sensitivity limits that leave the lowest-mass sources undetected, or (2) resolution limits that cannot distinguish binaries and/or cluster members in close proximity. Methods: Recent millimeter-wavelength interferometry observations can now uncover faint and/or compact sources in order to study a more complete population of protostars, especially in nearby ($D<500$ pc) clusters. Here we present ALMA observations of 1 mm (Band 6) continuum in a $3 \times 2$ arcminutes region at the center of Serpens South. Our angular resolution of $\sim1$ arcsec is equivalent to $\sim400$ au, corresponding to scales of envelopes and/or disks of protostellar sources. Results: We detect 52 sources with 1 mm continuum, and we measure masses of $0.002 - 0.9$ solar masses corresponding to gas and dust in the disk and/or envelope of the protostellar system. For the deeply embedded (youngest) sources with no IR counterparts, we find evidence of mass segregation and clustering according to: the Minimum Spanning Tree method, distribution of projected separations between unique sources, and concentration of higher-mass sources near to the dense gas at the cluster center. Conclusions: The mass segregation of the mm sources is likely primordial rather than dynamical given the young age of this cluster, compared with segregation time. This is the first case to show this for mm sources in a low-mass protostellar cluster environment.

Gravitational Wave Driven Mergers and Coalescence Time of Supermassive Black Holes

Abstract: The evolution of Supermassive Black Holes (SMBHs) initially embedded in the centres of merging galaxies realised with a stellar mass function (SMF) is studied from the onset of galaxy mergers till coalescence. We performed a large set of direct N-body simulations with three different slopes of the central stellar cusp and different random seeds. Post Newtonian terms up to order 3.5 are used to drive the SMBH binary evolution in the relativistic regime. The impact of a SMF on the hardening rate and the coalescence time is investigated. We find that SMBH binaries coalesce well within one billion years when our models are scaled to galaxies with a steep cusp at low redshift. Here higher central densities provide larger supply of stars to efficiently extract energy from the SMBH binary orbit and shrink it to the phase where gravitational wave (GW) emission becomes dominant leading to the coalescence of the SMBHs. Mergers of models with shallow cusps that are representative for giant elliptical galaxies having central cores result in less efficient extraction of binary orbital energy due to the lower stellar densities in the centre. However, high values of eccentricity witnessed for SMBH binaries in such galaxy mergers ensure that the GW emission dominated phase sets in earlier at larger values of the semi-major axis. This helps to compensate for the less efficient energy extraction during the phase dominated by stellar encounters resulting in mergers of SMBHs in about one Gyr after the formation of the binary. Additionally, we witness mass segregation in the merger remnant resulting in enhanced SMBH binary hardening rates. We show that at least the final phase of the merger in cuspy low mass galaxies would be observable with the GW detector eLISA.

Star formation activity and the spatial distribution and mass segregation of dense cores in the early phases of star formation

Abstract: We examine the spatial distribution and mass segregation of dense molecular cloud cores in a number of nearby star forming regions that span about four orders of magnitude in star formation activity. We use an approach based on the calculation of the minimum spanning tree, and for each region, we calculate the structure parameter Q and the mass segregation ratio measured for various numbers of the most massive cores. Our results indicate that the distribution of dense cores in young star forming regions is very substructured and that it is likely that this substructure will be imprinted onto the nascent clusters that will emerge out of these clouds. With the exception of Taurus in which there is nearly no mass segregation, we observe mild-to-significant levels of mass segregation for the ensemble of the 6, 10, and 14 most massive cores in Aquila, CrA, and W43, respectively. Our results suggest that the clouds' star formation activity are linked to their structure, as traced by their population of dense cores. We also find that the fraction of massive cores that are the most mass segregated in each region correlates with the surface density of star formation in the clouds. The Taurus region with low star-forming activity is associated with a highly hierarchical spatial distribution of the cores (low Q value) and the cores show no sign of being mass segregated. On the other extreme, the mini-starburst region W43-MM1 has a higher Q that is suggestive of a more centrally condensed structure and it possesses a higher fraction of massive cores that are segregated by mass. While some limited evolutionary effects might be present, we attribute the correlation between the star formation activity of the clouds and their structure to a dependence on the physical conditions that have been imprinted on them by the large scale environment at the time they started to assemble

The black hole retention fraction in star clusters

Abstract: Context. Recent research has been constraining the retention fraction of black holes (BHs) in globular clusters by comparing the degree of mass segregation with N-body simulations. They are consistent with an upper limit of the retention fraction being 50% or less.Aims. In this work, we focus on direct simulations of the dynamics of BHs in star clusters. We aim to constrain the effective distribution of natal kicks that BHs receive during supernova (SN) explosions and to estimate the BH retention fraction.Methods. We used the collisional N-body code nbody6 to measure the retention fraction of BHs for a given set of parameters, which are: the initial mass of a star cluster, the initial half-mass radius, and sigma(BH), which sets the effective Maxwellian BH velocity kick distribution. We compare these direct N-body models with our analytic estimates and newest observational constraints.Results. The numerical simulations show that for the one-dimensional velocity kick dispersion sigma BH < 50 km s(-1), clusters with radii of 2 pc and that are initially more massive than 5 x 10(3) M-circle dot retain more than 20% of BHs within their half-mass radii. Our simple analytic model yields a number of retained BHs that is in good agreement with the N-body models. Furthermore, the analytic estimates show that ultra-compact dwarf galaxies should have retained more than 80% of their BHs for sigma BH <= 190 km s(-1). Although our models do not contain primordial binaries, in the most compact clusters with 10(3) stars, we have found evidence of delayed SN explosions producing a surplus of BHs compared to the IMF due to dynamically formed binary stars. These cases do not occur in the more populous or expanded clusters.

The black hole retention fraction in star clusters

Abstract: Recent research has been constraining the retention fraction of black holes (BHs) in globular clusters by comparing the degree of mass segregation with $N$-body simulations. They are consistent with an upper limit of the retention fraction being $50\,\%$ or less. In this work, we focus on direct simulations of the dynamics of BHs in star clusters. We aim to constrain the effective distribution of natal kicks that BHs receive during supernova (SN) explosions and to estimate the BH retention fraction. We used the collisional $N$-body code nbody6 to measure the retention fraction of BHs for a given set of parameters, which are: the initial mass of a star cluster, the initial half-mass radius, and $\sigma_\mathrm{BH}$, which sets the effective Maxwellian BH velocity kick distribution. We compare these direct $N$-body models with our analytic estimates and newest observational constraints. The numerical simulations show that for the one-dimensional (1D) velocity kick dispersion $\sigma_\mathrm{BH} < 50\,\mathrm{km\,s^{-1}}$, clusters with radii of 2 pc and that are initially more massive than $5 \times 10^3\,M_\odot$ retain more than $20\,\%$ of BHs within their half-mass radii. Our simple analytic model yields a number of retained BHs that is in good agreement with the $N$-body models. Furthermore, the analytic estimates show that ultra-compact dwarf galaxies (UCDs) should have retained more than $80\,\%$ of their BHs for $\sigma_\mathrm{BH} \leq 190\,\mathrm{km\,s^{-1}}$. Although our models do not contain primordial binaries, in the most compact clusters with $10^3$ stars, we have found evidence of delayed SN explosions producing a surplus of BHs compared to the IMF due to dynamically formed binary stars. These cases do not occur in the more populous or expanded clusters.

The seven sisters DANCe - III. Projected spatial distribution

Abstract: Context. Membership analyses of the DANCe and Tycho + DANCe data sets provide the largest and least contaminated sample of Pleiades candidate members to date.Aims. We aim at reassessing the different proposals for the number surface density of the Pleiades in the light of the new and most complete list of candidate members, and inferring the parameters of the most adequate model.Methods. We compute the Bayesian evidence and Bayes Factors for variations of the classical radial models. These include elliptical symmetry, and luminosity segregation. As a by-product of the model comparison, we obtain posterior distributions for each set of model parameters.Results. We find that the model comparison results depend on the spatial extent of the region used for the analysis. For a circle of 11.5 parsecs around the cluster centre (the most homogeneous and complete region), we find no compelling reason to abandon King’s model, although the Generalised King model introduced here has slightly better fitting properties. Furthermore, we find strong evidence against radially symmetric models when compared to the elliptic extensions. Finally, we find that including mass segregation in the form of luminosity segregation in the J band is strongly supported in all our models.Conclusions. We have put the question of the projected spatial distribution of the Pleiades cluster on a solid probabilistic framework, and inferred its properties using the most exhaustive and least contaminated list of Pleiades candidate members available to date. Our results suggest however that this sample may still lack about 20% of the expected number of cluster members. Therefore, this study should be revised when the completeness and homogeneity of the data can be extended beyond the 11.5 parsecs limit. Such a study will allow for more precise determination of the Pleiades spatial distribution, its tidal radius, ellipticity, number of objects and total mass.

The effect of stellar helium abundance on dynamics of multiple populations in globular clusters

Abstract: We incorporate a semi-analytic formula for the main sequence lifetime of helium-rich stars in N-body simulations of multiple population globular clusters to investigate how the enriched helium stars impact the dynamics of globular clusters. We show that a globular cluster with a helium-rich concentrated population will be slightly smaller than a globular cluster with a normal-helium second generation, with the largest difference seen in the extended normal-helium population. This effect is shown both for a cluster in isolation and one in a realistic Milky Way tidal field. We show that this effect is a result of mass segregation, and the earlier loss of more massive stars in a helium-rich concentrated population due to their decreased main sequence lifetime. The two populations will therefore become dynamically mixed at a slightly earlier time than if they have the same helium abundance. Furthermore, we find that it is possible for the helium-enriched population to become more extended than the normal-helium population if it forms with a low initial concentration or the cluster is able to evolve for a large number of relaxation times. We conclude that the dynamical effects of helium on stellar masses are modest, and that the initial concentration of the two populations and the strength of the Milky Way tidal field are more important in determining the relative radial distributions of multiple populations.

Blue straggler stars beyond the Milky Way: a non-segregated population in the Large Magellanic Cloud cluster NGC 2213

Abstract: Using the high-resolution observations obtained by the Hubble Space Telescope, we analyzed the blue straggler stars (BSSs) in the Large Magellanic Cloud cluster NGC 2213. We found that the radial distribution of BSSs is consistent with that of the normal giant stars in NGC 2213, showing no evidence of mass segregation. However, an analytic calculation carried out for these BSSs shows that they are already dynamically old, because the estimated half-mass relaxation time for these BSSs is significantly shorter than the isochronal age of the cluster. We also performed direct N-body simulations for a NGC 2213-like cluster to understand the dynamical processes that lead to this none-segregated radial distribution of BSSs. Our numerical simulation shows that the presence of black hole subsystems inside the cluster centre can significantly affect the dynamical evolution of BSSs. The combined effects of the delayed segregation, binary disruption and exchange interactions of BSS progenitor binaries may result in this none-segregated radial distribution of BSSs in NGC 2213.

Mass segregation phenomena using the Hamiltonian Mean Field model

Abstract: Mass segregation problem is thought to be entangled with the dynamical evolution of young stellar clusters (Olczak, 2011 [ 1 ]). This is a common sense in the astrophysical community. In this work, the Hamiltonian Mean Field (HMF) model with different masses is studied. A mass segregation phenomenon (MSP) arises from this study as a dynamical feature. The MSP in the HMF model is a consequence of the Landau damping (LD) and it appears in systems that the interactions belongs to a long range regime. Actually HMF is a toy model known to show up the main characteristics of astrophysical systems due to the mean field character of the potential and for different masses, as stellar and galaxies clusters, also exhibits MSP. It is in this sense that computational simulations focusing in what happens over the mass distribution in the phase space are performed for this system. What happens through the violent relaxation period and what stands for the quasi-stationary states (QSS) of this dynamics is analyzed. The results obtained support the fact that MSP is observed already in the violent relaxation time and is maintained during the QSS. Some structures in the mass distribution function are observed. As a result of this study the mass distribution is determined by the system dynamics and is independent of the dimensionality of the system. MSP occurs in a one dimensional system as a result of the long range forces that acts in the system. In this approach MSP emerges as a dynamical feature. We also show that for HMF with different masses, the dynamical time scale is N .

Th Dynamics of Star Cluster Formation

Abstract: A major question in astrophysics is how star clusters form. These objects are important, since they are the birth sites of most stars, perhaps including our own Sun. There are different theoretical models of cluster formation and our main goal is to examine how they may affect the dynamical evolution of the stars in the system, including those stars that are ejected from the cluster. In particular, we set up cluster formation models with global initial conditions of the Turbulent Clump Model, which has been proposed as a description of gas structures within molecular clouds. We then investigate how global star formation efficiency from such a natal gas clump, overall clump density, degree of primordial mass segregation, degree of primordial binarity and binary population properties affect the subsequent dynamical evolution. In a second paper, after a major code development that allows modeling of gradual star formation, we investigate how the rate of star cluster formation affects its dynamical evolution, which is the first time such a study has been conducted for realistic clusters that have realistic binary properties. We show througth this thesis that star clusters that formed fast, i.e., during about one free-fall time, show quite different properties than star clusters that forms in a slow quasi-equilibirum fashion. Quickly-formed clusters tend to expand much faster compared to slow-formed clusters, thus requiring higher initial densities to agree with observations. Creation of the runaway stellar population is also sensitive to the rate of cluster formation. Future directions of this work, adding greater degrees of realism are also discussed. Finally, we carry out an example study of how the observed properties of a particular set of runaway stars can constrain properties of the dynamical ejection event, with implications for the closest region of massive star formation in the Orion Nebula Cluster.

Effect of Density Difference on Particle Segregation Behaviors at Bell-Less Top Blast Furnace with Parallel-Type Hopper

Abstract: The difference on particle density causes mass and size segregation in the blast furnace throat, causing poor permeability in radial and circumferential direction. Understanding the effect of density difference on particle spatial-temporal distribution helps stabilize smooth operation and improve energy efficiency of blast furnace iron-making process. Based on discrete element method simulation, the influence of density difference on particle segregation behaviors is quantitatively characterized by the proposed method when the binary-sized particles are charged from parallel-type hopper of blast furnace. The results show that increasing the 4 mm particle density aggravates the mass segregation in circumferential and radial direction, and the maximum standard deviation of each ring reaches as great as 0.415. For size segregation, the difference on average mass fraction of small particle between center and edge ring decreases from 0.373 to 0.301. When increasing the 6 mm particle density, the similar particle segregation behaviors could be obtained.

Kinematics and Dynamics of Young Star Clusters with TMT

Abstract: Star clusters are evolving n-body systems. We discuss the early dynamics of star clusters, the process of primordial mass segregation and clustering observed in certain young clusters. We discuss how the dynamics coupled with stellar evolution of a cluster define the radial profile, mass function of and disruption the cluster and compare these parameters with some known clusters. As a member of the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT), International Science Driven Team (ISDT), I shall use these details to help define the science case, requirements and the expected precision in answering possible questions about the evolution of star clusters in terms of astrometry and high resolution spectroscopy. I shall also report on some of the resolutions made at the recent TMT-Forum held in Mysore, India.