Abstract
A significant degree of mass segregation inconsistent with the effects of standard two-body relaxation has been observed in a number of young star clusters. In this paper we present the results of a survey of N-body simulations aimed at exploring the origin and the dynamical evolution of young mass-segregated star clusters. Our simulations show that large segregated clusters can form from the merger of small clumps that are either initially segregated or in which segregation is produced before the merger is complete; the large cluster produced at the end of the merger process inherits the progenitor clumps’ segregation. We show that, in a young mass-segregated cluster, the effect of early mass loss associated with stellar evolution is, in general, more destructive than for an unsegregated cluster with the same density profile, and leads to shorter lifetimes, a faster initial evolution towards less-concentrated structure and a faster flattening of the stellar initial mass function.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bonnell, I.A., Bate, M.R.: Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 370, 488 (2006)
Bonnell, I.A., Clarke, C.J., Bate, M.R., Pringle, J.E.: Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 324, 573 (2001)
Bonnell, I.A., Bate, M.R., Vine, S.: Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 343, 413 (2003)
Chernoff, D., Shapiro, S.: Astrophys. J. 322, 113 (1987)
Chernoff, D., Weinberg, M.: Astrophys. J. 351, 121 (1990)
de Grijs, R., Gilmore, G.F., Johnson, R.A., Mackey, A.D.: Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 331, 245 (2002)
Elmegreen, B.: arXiv:astro-ph/0605519 (2006)
Fischer, P., Pryor, C., Murray, S., Mateo, M., Richtler, T.: Astron. J. 331, 592 (1998)
Fukushige, T., Heggie, D.: Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 276, 206 (1995)
Funato, Y., Makino, J., Ebisuzaki, T.: Publ. Astron. Soc. Jpn. 44, 291 (1992)
Gouliermis, D., Keller, S.C., Kontizas, M., Kontizas, E., Bellas-Velidis, I.: Astron. Astrophys. 416, 137 (2004)
Hillenbrand, L.A.: Astron. J. 113, 1733 (1997)
Hillenbrand, L.A., Hartmann, L.E.: Astrophys. J. 331, 540 (1998)
Hills, J.: Astrophys. J. 235, 968 (1980)
Klessen, R.: Astrophys. J. 556, 837 (2001)
Kroupa, P., Tout, C., Gilmore, G.: Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 262, 545 (1993)
Krumholz, M.R., Bonnell, I.: arXiv:0712.0828 [astro-ph] (2007)
Krumholz, M.R., Klein, R.I., McKee, C.F.: Nature 438, 332 (2005)
Makino, J., Fukushige, T., Koga, M., Namura, K.: Publ. Astron. Soc. Jpn. 55, 1163 (2003)
McMillan, S., Vesperini, E., Portegies Zwart, S.: Astrophys. J. Lett. 655, 45 (2007)
Portegies Zwart, S.F., McMillan, S.L.W., Hut, P., Makino, J.: Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 321, 199 (2001)
Sirianni, M., Nota, A., De Marchi, G., Leitherer, C., Clampin, M.: Astrophys. J. 579, 275 (2002)
Stolte, A., Brandner, W., Brandl, B., Zinnecker, H.: Astron. J. 132, 253 (2006)
van Albada, T.S.: Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 201, 939 (1982)
Vesperini, E., Zepf, S.: Astrophys. J. Lett. 587, 97 (2003)
Vesperini, E., McMillan, S.L.W., Portegies Zwart, S.: Astrophys. J. 698, 615 (2009)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Vesperini, E., McMillan, S. & Portegies Zwart, S. Origin and dynamical evolution of young mass-segregated clusters. Astrophys Space Sci 324, 277–282 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10509-009-0099-2
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10509-009-0099-2