ISSI Team - de Grijs et al. (II)

Star Cluster Formation and Evolution in the Context of the Quiescent versus Violent Star Formation Paradigm

Abstract
Star clusters are ubiquitous in most galaxies in the nearby Universe, such that star cluster formation is one of the major modes of star formation. In fact, clusters act as robust tracers of the violent star-formation activity in their host galaxies over cosmological time-scales. However, the first few x 107 yr of a cluster population's lifetime are as yet poorly understood. Therefore, if we could obtain robust constraints on the initial conditions for cluster formation and on the importance of their environmental characteristics, this would facilitate a major leap forward in our understanding of the process of star formation itself, and shed light on the main drivers of cluster disruption. Here we propose to bring together astrophysicists with observational, theoretical and numerical modelling expertise in order to tackle these far-reaching issues comprehensively and robustly. We propose to use a combination of ground-based and Hubble Space Telescope observations, which are largely in hand and ready for further analysis. We will do so using a modularised approach, utilising existing observations, and systematically working through the theoretical and numerical problems in tasks that can feasibly and realistically be worked out during three one-week visits to ISSI over the course of a year, with follow-up tasks set for the intervening periods.

Team Members
  • Dr. Richard de Grijs (Team Leader), University of Sheffield, UK; and National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences (), China
  • Dr. Simon P. Goodwin, University of Sheffield, UK
  • Prof. Uta Fritze-v. Alvensleben, University of Hertfordshire, UK; and Universität Göttingen, Germany
  • Prof. Henny J.G.L.M. Lamers, Universiteit Utrecht, The Netherlands
  • Dr. Søren S. Larsen, Universiteit Utrecht, The Netherlands
  • Dr. Simon Portegies Zwart, Universiteit van Amsterdam, The Netherlands
  • Dr. Nate Bastian, University College London, UK
Ad-Hoc Team Members
  • Dr. Peter Anders, Universiteit Utrecht, The Netherlands
  • Mr. Remco Scheepmaker, Universiteit Utrecht, The Netherlands
  • Dr. Geneviève Parmentier, Université de Liège, Belgium; and Sternwarte Bonn, Germany
  • Dr. Atakan Gürkan, Universiteit van Amsterdam, The Netherlands
  • Mr. Richard Allison, University of Sheffield, UK
  • Mr. Richard Parker, University of Sheffield, UK
  • Dr. Thijs Kouwenhoven, University of Sheffield, UK
  • Mr. Ralf Kotulla, University of Hertfordshire, UK

Resulting Papers (with acknowledgements to ISSI)
  • de Grijs R., Goodwin S.P., 2007, MNRAS, in press:
    Star cluster "infant mortality" in the Small Magellanic Cloud (Redivivus); (arXiv:0709.3781)
  • de Grijs R., Parmentier G., 2007, ChJA&A, 7, 155:
    The long-term survival chances of young massive star clusters; (astro-ph/0702337)
    (invited, internationally refereed review paper)
  • de Grijs R., Goodwin S.P., Kouwenhoven M.B.N., Kroupa P., 2008, MNRAS, submitted:
    Star cluster stability: Galactic open clusters
  • Fritze-v. Alvensleben U., Larsen S.S., Anders P., de Grijs R., Lamers H.J.G.L.M., 2008, A&A, in prep.:
    What is wrong with globular clusters?
  • Goodwin S.P., de Grijs R., Anders P., 2008, MNRAS, in prep.:
    Star cluster "infant mortality" in the Magellanic Clouds
  • Goodwin S.P., Nutter D., Kroupa P., Ward-Thompson D., Whitworth A.P., 2007, A&A, in press:
    The relationship between the prestellar core mass function and the stellar initial mass function; (arXiv:0711.1749)
  • Larsen S.S., Origlia L., Brodie J. Gallagher J.S., 2007, MNRAS, in press:
    Anatomy of a young massive star cluster: NGC 1569-B; (arXiv:0710.0547)
  • Parker R.J., Goodwin S.P., 2007, MNRAS, 380, 127:
    Do O-stars form in isolation?
  • Parmentier G., de Grijs R., 2007, MNRAS, in press:
    The poorly constrained cluster disruption time-scale in the Large Magellanic Cloud; (arXiv:0710.3477)
  • Parmentier G., Goodwin S.P., Kroupa P., Baumgardt H., 2008, ApJ, submitted:
    The shape of the initial cluster mass function: what it tells us about the local star formation efficiency
  • Portegies Zwart S., McMillan S., Ó Nualláin B., Heggie D., Lombardi J., Hut P., Banerjee S., Belkus H., Fragos T., Fregeau J. Fujii M., Gaburov E., Glebbeek E., Groen D., Gürkan A., Harfst S., Izzard R., Juric M., Justham S., Teuben M., van Bever J., Yaron O., Zemp M., 2008, ICCS Conf. on Multiscale Computing, Krakow (Poland):
    A multphysics and multiscale software environment for modeling astrophysical systems
  • Scheepmaker R.A., Lamers H.J.G.L.M., Larsen S.S., Anders P., 2008, A&A, 477, 117:
    A peculiar object in M51: fuzzy star cluster or a background galaxy?