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Constraining star cluster disruption mechanisms

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 January 2010

I. S. Konstantopoulos ,
N. Bastian ,
M. Gieles  and
H. J. G. L. M. Lamers
I. S. Konstantopoulos
Affiliation:
Department of Physics & Astronomy, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK European Southern Observatory, Casilla 19001, Santiago 19, Chile
N. Bastian
Affiliation:
Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 0HA, UK
M. Gieles
Affiliation:
European Southern Observatory, Casilla 19001, Santiago 19, Chile
H. J. G. L. M. Lamers
Affiliation:
Astronomical Institute, Utrecht University, Princetonplein 5, 3584 CC Utrecht, the Netherlands
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Abstract

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Star clusters are found in all sorts of environments, and their formation and evolution is inextricably linked to the star-formation process. Their eventual destruction can result from a number of factors at different times, but the process can be investigated as a whole through the study of cluster age distributions. Observations of populous cluster samples reveal a distribution following a power law of index approximately −1. In this work, we use M33 as a test case to examine the age distribution of an archetypal cluster population and show that it is, in fact, the evolving shape of the mass detection limit that defines this trend. That is to say, any magnitude-limited sample will appear to follow a dN/dτ = τ−1 relation, while cutting the sample according to mass gives rise to a composite structure, perhaps implying a dependence of the cluster disruption process on mass. In the context of this framework, we examine different models of cluster disruption from both theoretical and observational perspectives.

Keywords

galaxies: star clustersgalaxies: individual (M 33)
Type
Contributed Papers
Information
Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union , Volume 5 , Symposium S266: Star clusters: basic galactic building blocks throughout time and space , August 2009 , pp. 433 - 437
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2010

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