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The Effects of Supernovae on the Dynamical Evolution of Binary Stars and Star Clusters

Handbook of Supernovae

Abstract

In this chapter I review the effects of supernovae explosions on the dynamical evolution of (1) binary stars and (2) star clusters.

  1. (1)

    Supernovae in binaries can drastically alter the orbit of the system, sometimes disrupting it entirely, and are thought to be partially responsible for “runaway” massive stars – stars in the Galaxy with large peculiar velocities. The ejection of the lower-mass secondary component of a binary occurs often in the event of the more massive primary star exploding as a supernova. The orbital properties of binaries that contain massive stars mean that the observed velocities of runaway stars (10s–100s km s−1) are consistent with this scenario.

  2. (2)

    Star formation is an inherently inefficient process, and much of the potential in young star clusters remains in the form of gas. Supernovae can in principle expel this gas, which would drastically alter the dynamics of the cluster by unbinding the stars from the potential. However, recent numerical simulations, and observational evidence that gas-free clusters are observed to be bound, suggest that the effects of supernova explosions on the dynamics of star clusters are likely to be minimal.

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Acknowledgements

I acknowledge support from the Royal Astronomical Society in the form of a research fellowship.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Astrophysics Research Institute, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, UK

    Richard J. Parker

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  1. Richard J. Parker
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Correspondence to Richard J. Parker .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of London Observatory, Mill Hill, United Kingdom

    Athem W. Alsabti

  2. Cambridge, United Kingdom

    Paul Murdin

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Parker, R.J. (2016). The Effects of Supernovae on the Dynamical Evolution of Binary Stars and Star Clusters. In: Alsabti, A., Murdin, P. (eds) Handbook of Supernovae. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-20794-0_116-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-20794-0_116-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-20794-0

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Chapter history

  1. Latest

    The Effects of Supernovae on the Dynamical Evolution of Binary Stars and Star Clusters
    Published:
    11 August 2017

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-20794-0_116-2

  2. Original

    The Effects of Supernovae on the Dynamical Evolution of Binary Stars and Star Clusters
    Published:
    17 August 2016

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-20794-0_116-1

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