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The formation, disruption and properties of pressure-supported stellar systems and implications for the astrophysics of galaxies
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 September 2007
Abstract
Most stars form in dense star clusters deeply embedded in residual gas. These objects must therefore be seen as the fundamental building blocks of galaxies. With this contribution some physical processes that act in the very early and also later dynamical evolution of dense stellar systems in terms of shaping their later appearance and properties, and the impact they have on their host galaxies, are highlighted. Considering dense systems with increasing mass, it turns out that near 106M⊙ their properties change fundamentally: stellar populations become complex, a galaxial mass–radius relation emerges and the median two-body relaxation time becomes longer than a Hubble time. Intriguingly, only systems with a two-body relaxation time longer than a Hubble time show weak evidence for dark matter, whereby dSph galaxies form total outliers.
Keywords
- Type
- Contributed Papers
- Information
- Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union , Volume 3 , Symposium S246: Dynamical Evolution of Dense Stellar Systems , September 2007 , pp. 13 - 22
- Copyright
- Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2008
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