Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-8ctnn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T05:08:04.417Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Dynamical Masses of Young Star Clusters: Constraints on the Stellar IMF and Star-Formation Efficiency

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 September 2007

N. Bastian
N. Bastian*
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK email: [email protected]
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Through the use of detailed light profiles and dynamical measurements of young clusters we investigate claims that the stellar initial mass function within clusters varies greatly. We find a strong age dependence in the clusters which have been claimed to have non-standard stellar IMFs, and suggest that the lack of equilibrium of these clusters is responsible for their ‘strange’ light-to-mass ratios and not IMF variations. The most likely culprit is the rapid removal of residual gas left over from the star-formation process which leaves the clusters severely out of dynamical equilibrium. By comparing the observations to N-body simulations we quantify to what degree a cluster is out of equilibrium and consequently its survival chances. We find that >60% of young clusters will be disrupted, due gas removal, within the first 20–50 Myr of their lives.

Keywords

galaxies: star clusters
Type
Contributed Papers
Information
Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union , Volume 3 , Symposium S246: Dynamical Evolution of Dense Stellar Systems , September 2007 , pp. 32 - 35
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2008

References

Bastian, N., Gieles, M., Lamers, H. J. G. L. M., Scheepmaker, R. A., & de Grijs, R. 2005, A&A 431, 905Google Scholar
Bastian, N. & Goodwin, S. P. 2006, MNRAS, 369, L9CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bastian, N., Saglia, R. P., Goudfrooij, P., Kissler-Patig, M., Maraston, C., Scwheizer, F., & Zoccali, M. 2006 A&A, 448, 881Google Scholar
Elson, R. A. W., Fall, M. S., & Freeman, K. C. 1987, ApJ 323, 54 (EFF)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gieles, M., Bastian, N., Lamers, H. J. G. L. M., & Mout, J. N. 2005, A&A, 441, 949Google Scholar
Goodwin, S. P. 1997, MNRAS, 284, 785CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goodwin, S. P. & Bastian, N. 2006, MNRAS, 373, 752CrossRefGoogle Scholar
King, I. 1962, AJ 67, 471CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kroupa, P. 2002, Science, 295, 82CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lada, C. J. & Lada, E. A. 1991, in The formation and evolution of star clusters, ed. Joes, K., ASP Conf. Ser., 13, 3Google Scholar
Maraston, C., Bastian, N., Saglia, R. P., Kissler-Patig, M., Schweizer, F., Goudfrooij, P. 2004, A&A, 416, 467Google Scholar
Pellerin, A., Meyer, M., Harris, J., & Calzetti, D. 2007, ApJL, 658, L87CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Salpeter, E. E. 1955, ApJ, 121, 161CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, L. J. & Gallagher, J. S. 2001, MNRAS, 326, 1027CrossRefGoogle Scholar
van Wijngaarden, L. 1968, J. Engng Maths 2, 225CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Whitmore, B. C. 2003, in A Decade of HST Science, ed. Livio, M., Noll, K., & Stiavelli, M. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), 153Google Scholar