scholarly journals Global survey of star clusters in the Milky Way

2018 ◽  
Vol 614 ◽  
pp. A22 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. E. Piskunov ◽  
A. Just ◽  
N. V. Kharchenko ◽  
P. Berczik ◽  
R.-D. Scholz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Milky Way ◽  
Cluster Formation ◽  
Formation Rate ◽  
Age Distribution ◽  
Star Clusters ◽  
Mass Function ◽  
Spatial Variations ◽  
Initial Mass Function ◽  
Initial Mass ◽  
Formation History

Context. The all-sky Milky Way Star Clusters (MWSC) survey provides uniform and precise ages, along with other relevant parameters, for a wide variety of clusters in the extended solar neighbourhood. Aims. In this study we aim to construct the cluster age distribution, investigate its spatial variations, and discuss constraints on cluster formation scenarios of the Galactic disk during the last 5 Gyrs. Methods. Due to the spatial extent of the MWSC, we have considered spatial variations of the age distribution along galactocentric radius RG, and along Z-axis. For the analysis of the age distribution we used 2242 clusters, which all lie within roughly 2.5 kpc of the Sun. To connect the observed age distribution to the cluster formation history we built an analytical model based on simple assumptions on the cluster initial mass function and on the cluster mass-lifetime relation, fit it to the observations, and determined the parameters of the cluster formation law. Results. Comparison with the literature shows that earlier results strongly underestimated the number of evolved clusters with ages t ≳ 100 Myr. Recent studies based on all-sky catalogues agree better with our data, but still lack the oldest clusters with ages t ≳ 1 Gyr. We do not observe a strong variation in the age distribution along RG, though we find an enhanced fraction of older clusters (t > 1 Gyr) in the inner disk. In contrast, the distribution strongly varies along Z. The high altitude distribution practically does not contain clusters with t < 1 Gyr. With simple assumptions on the cluster formation history, the cluster initial mass function and the cluster lifetime we can reproduce the observations. The cluster formation rate and the cluster lifetime are strongly degenerate, which does not allow us to disentangle different formation scenarios. In all cases the cluster formation rate is strongly declining with time, and the cluster initial mass function is very shallow at the high mass end.

scholarly journals The star clusters of the Magellanic System

2008 ◽  
Vol 4 (S256) ◽  
pp. 69-80
Author(s):  
Basílio X. Santiago
Keyword(s):  
Mass Loss ◽  
Cluster Formation ◽  
Formation Rate ◽  
Star Clusters ◽  
Mass Range ◽  
Mass Function ◽  
Cluster System ◽  
Initial Mass Function ◽  
Sequence Evolution ◽  
Chemical Abundance

AbstractMore than 50 years have elapsed since the first studies of star clusters in the Magellanic Clouds. The wealth of data accumulated since then has not only revealed a large cluster system, but also a diversified one, filling loci in the age, mass and chemical abundance parameter space which are complementary to Galactic clusters. Catalogs and photometric samples currently available cover most of the cluster mass range. The expectations of relatively long cluster disruption timescales in the Clouds have been confirmed, allowing reliable assessments of the cluster initial mass function and of the cluster formation rate in the Clouds. Due to their proximity to the Galaxy, Magellanic clusters are also well resolved into stars. Analysis of colour—magnitude diagrams (CMDs) of clusters with different ages, masses and metallicities are useful tools to test dynamical effects such as mass loss due to stellar evolution, two-body relaxation, stellar evaporation, cluster interactions and tidal effects. The existence of massive and young Magellanic clusters has provided insight into the physics of cluster formation. The magnitudes and colours of different stellar types are confronted with stellar evolutionary tracks, thus constraining processes such as convective overshooting, stellar mass-loss, rotation and pre main-sequence evolution. Finally, the Magellanic cluster system may contribute with nearby and well studied counterparts of recently proposed types of extragalactic clusters, such as Faint Fuzzies and Diffuse Star Clusters.

scholarly journals Quantifying the universality of the stellar initial mass function in old star clusters

2012 ◽  
Vol 422 (2) ◽  
pp. 1592-1600 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathan Leigh ◽  
Stefan Umbreit ◽  
Alison Sills ◽  
Christian Knigge ◽  
Guido de Marchi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Star Clusters ◽  
Mass Function ◽  
Initial Mass Function ◽  
Initial Mass ◽  
Stellar Initial Mass Function

scholarly journals Evidence of spectral evolution on the white dwarf sample from the Gaia mission

2020 ◽  
Vol 492 (4) ◽  
pp. 5003-5010 ◽  
Author(s):  
G Ourique ◽  
S O Kepler ◽  
A D Romero ◽  
T S Klippel ◽  
D Koester
Keyword(s):  
White Dwarf ◽  
White Dwarfs ◽  
Mass Function ◽  
Initial Mass Function ◽  
Star Formation History ◽  
Initial Mass ◽  
Spectral Evolution ◽  
Formation History ◽  
Magnitude Diagram ◽  
Double Population

ABSTRACT Since the Gaia data release 2, several works have been published describing a bifurcation in the observed white dwarf colour−magnitude diagram for ${G_{\mathrm{BP}}}{}-{G_{\mathrm{RP}}}{} \gt 0$. Some possible explanations in the literature include the existence of a double population with different initial mass functions or two distinct populations, one formed by hydrogen-envelope and one formed by helium-envelope white dwarfs. We propose instead spectral evolution to explain the bifurcation. From a population synthesis approach, we find that spectral evolution occurs for effective temperatures below ${\simeq }11\, 000\, \mathrm{K}$ and masses mainly between $0.64\, \mathrm{M}_\odot$ and $0.74\, \mathrm{M}_\odot$, which correspond to around 16 per cent of all DA white dwarfs. We also find that the Gaia white dwarf colour–magnitude diagram indicates a star formation history that decreases abruptly for objects younger than $1.4\, \mathrm{Gyr}$ and a top-heavy initial mass function for the white dwarf progenitors.

scholarly journals The influence of star clusters on galactic disks: new insights in star-formation in galaxies

2008 ◽  
Vol 4 (S254) ◽  
pp. 209-220
Author(s):  
Pavel Kroupa
Keyword(s):  
Star Formation ◽  
Galaxy Evolution ◽  
Stellar Population ◽  
Dwarf Galaxy ◽  
Star Clusters ◽  
Mass Function ◽  
Initial Mass Function ◽  
Initial Mass ◽  
Disk Galaxies ◽  
Galactic Disks

AbstractStars form in embedded star clusters which play a key role in determining the properties of a galaxy's stellar population. A large fraction of newly born massive stars are shot out from dynamically unstable embedded-cluster cores spreading them to large distances before they explode. Embedded clusters blow out their gas once the feedback energy from the new stellar population overcomes its binding energy, leading to cluster expansion and in many cases dissolution into the galaxy. Galactic disks may be thickened by such processes, and some thick disks may be the result of an early epoch of vigorous star-formation. Binary stellar systems are disrupted in clusters leading to a lower fraction of binaries in the field, while long-lived clusters harden degenerate-stellar binaries such that the SNIa rate may increase by orders of magnitude in those galaxies that were able to form long-lived clusters. The stellar initial mass function of the whole galaxy must be computed by adding the IMFs in the individual clusters. The resulting integrated galactic initial mass function (IGIMF) is top-light for SFRs < 10 M⊙/yr, and its slope and, more importantly, its upper stellar mass limit depend on the star-formation rate (SFR), explaining naturally the mass–metallicity relation of galaxies. Based on the IGIMF theory, the re-calibrated Hα-luminosity–SFR relation implies dwarf irregular galaxies to have the same gas-depletion time-scale as major disk galaxies, implying a major change of our concept of dwarf-galaxy evolution. A galaxy transforms about 0.3 per cent of its neutral gas mass every 10 Myr into stars. The IGIMF-theory also naturally leads to the observed radial Hα cutoff in disk galaxies without a radial star-formation cutoff. It emerges that the thorough understanding of the physics and distribution of star clusters may be leading to a major paradigm shift in our understanding of galaxy evolution.

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