The second data release of the Gaia mission coupled with ground-based spectroscopic observations has allowed the determination of the orbital parameters for almost all of the Galactic globular clusters, as well as for the known dwarf spheroidal galaxies orbiting the Milky Way. Moreover, it has led to the discovery of dwarf galaxies that were accreted by the Galaxy long ago and that are now completely disrupted. By exploiting their dynamics in combination with the globular clusters age-metallicity relation, we investigated the clusters-to-dwarfs connection. We found that about 60 globulars likely formed in situ, and associated those that were accreted to the dwarf galaxy progenitor they likely formed in.

In the context of the STRucture and Evolution of the GAlaxy survey, we describe the preliminary results obtained for the fields around the globular cluster Pal 3 (about 2.75 square degrees), by exploiting the obtained g, r, i time series photometry. The final aim is to use variable stars as tools to verify and study the presence of streams around Pal 3. We found 20 candidate variable stars of which 7 RR Lyrae stars possibly belonging to Pal 3, also at large distance from the center. The distribution of the candidate RR Lyrae seems to confirm a preferential distribution in the north-east direction, confirming previous results in literature.

We investigate the old open cluster M67 using ultraviolet photometric data of Ultra-Violet Imaging Telescope in multi-filter far-UV bands. M67, well known for the presence of several blue straggler stars (BSS), has been put to detailed tests to understand their formation pathways. Currently, there are three accepted formation channels: mass transfer due to Roche-lobe overflow in binary systems, stellar mergers either due to dynamical collisions or through coalescence of close binaries. So far, there had not been any confirmed detection of a white dwarf (WD) companion to any of the BSSs in this cluster. Here, we present the detection of WD companions to 5 bright BSSs in M67. The multiwavelength spectral energy distributions covering 0.12 -11.5 μm range, were found to require binary spectral fits for 5 BSSs, consisting of a cool (BSS) and a hot companion. The parameters (Luminosity, Temperature, Radius and Mass) of the hot companions suggest them to be WDs with mass in the range 0.2 - 0.35 M⊙ with Teff ~11000 –24000 K.

Using data from the core of 47 Tuc we have identified stars in different evolutionary stages in the colour-magnitude diagram, and used the effects of mass segregation on their radial distribution to study the evolution and origin of blue stragglers (BSS). We separate the BSS into 2 samples by their magnitude and find considerable differences in their distribution. Bright BSS are more centrally concentrated with mass estimates over twice the turn-off mass suggesting an origin involving a triple or multiple star system. The distribution of the faint BSS is close to that of the main-sequence (MS) binaries pointing to these stars as their likely progenitors. Using MESA models, we calculate the expected number of stars in each evolutionary stage and compare it with the observed number of stars. Results indicate that BSS have a post-MS evolution comparable to that of a normal star of the same mass and a MS-BSS lifetime of about 200 – 300 Myr.

Young star clusters are a promising environment for forming binary black holes. Such binaries may form dynamically or via binary star evolution or through the interplay of these two channels. To study these formation pathways, we have performed high precision direct N-body simulations of low-mass (M < 1000 M⊙) young star clusters. The simulations were carried out with the code Nbody6++GPU coupled with the population synthesis code MOBSE. Our results highlight the importance of dynamics to form massive black hole binaries even in low-mass young star clusters.

Recent observations of globular clusters imposed major revisions to the previous paradigm, in which they were considered to be isotropic in velocity space and non-rotating. However, the theory of collisionless spheroids with some kinematic richness has seldom been studied. We present here a first step in this direction, owing to new results regarding the linear stability of rotating Plummer spheres, with varying anisotropy in velocity space and total amount of angular momentum. We extend the well-known radial orbit instability to rotating systems, and discover a new regime of instability in fast rotating, tangentially anisotropic systems.

We present the results obtained from Near-UV observations of the cluster NGC 5466 taken with UVIT onboard AstroSat to study the radial distribution of Blue Straggler Stars (BSSs), covering the cluster region up to a radius of 14'. Our study confirms that the BSSs are more centrally concentrated than Horizontal Branch (HB) stars in the cluster. We do not find a statistically significant rising trend in the radial distribution of BSSs for the outer regions, as most of the previously catalogued BSSs that are located in the cluster outskirts were found to be non-members, quasars or galaxies. This study highlights the importance of UV imaging combined with membership information to probe the radial distribution of BSSs.

Gaia DR2 catalog provides a unique possibility to study the three-dimensional structure and the three-dimensional velocity field of the nearby open clusters. We can either select stars with a maximum membership probability and the most accurate values for the proper motions, parallaxes, and the radial velocities, or study these clusters statistically using overwhelmingly large areas of sky of tens by tens degrees. The second approach allows us to reveal the extensive outer parts of the clusters - a corona and the tidal tails and to study the luminosity and mass functions of these clusters. We present the first results of the investigation of several nearby open clusters, including Pleiades, Alpha Persei, Ruprecht 147.

We study the evolution of star clusters in the Galactic tidal field starting from their birth in molecular clumps. Our model clusters form according to the local-density-driven cluster formation model in which the stellar density profile is steeper than that of gas. As a result, clusters resist the gas expulsion better than predicted by earlier models.

We vary the impact of the Galactic tidal field λ, considering different Galactocentric distances (3-18 kpc), as well as different cluster sizes. Our model clusters survive the gas expulsion independent of λ.

We investigated the relation between the cluster mass at the onset of secular evolution and their dissolution time. The model clusters formed with a high star-formation efficiency (SFE) follow a tight mass-dependent dissolution relation, in agreement with previous theoretical studies. However, the low-SFE models present a shallower mass-dependent relation than high-SFE clusters, and most dissolve before reaching 1 Gyr (cluster teenage mortality).

We present the study of horizontal branch morphology of the cluster NGC 6656. A blueward shift in temperature of about ~5000 K (nM-jump) in the color-color plot is detected.To explain this feature, we study the presence of stellar-mass black hole by plotting Projected density profile (PDP) in the central HST region. The PDP in the inner region (r < 10″) can be nicely reproduced by the king+BH model. The blue ward shift in temperature can be due the presence of stellar mass black holes in the centre.

I present the results of a survey of the kinematics of a large sample of Galactic globular clusters performed thanks to the synergy between the 2nd Gaia data release and the most extensive collection of radial velocities. This unprecedented dataset of 3D velocities of thousand of stars in 62 globular clusters has been used to investigate the rotation patterns of these stellar systems providing insight into the impact of two-body relaxation and tides on the formation and evolution of their rotation.

Three-body interactions of stellar-mass binaries with intermediate mass black holes (IMBHs) in nuclei of globular clusters may produce specific features that may serve as an independent indicator of existence of the IMBHs. By means of direct N-body integrations we follow the dynamical evolution of globular clusters of moderate extension and mass with 50% binary population over a time span of ≍ 0.8 Gyr and compare the cases with and without the primordial binaries as well as with and without the IMBH. We show that (i) presence of the IMBH leads to rapid formation of a density cusp regardless of the initial binary fraction, (ii) binary rich clusters with the IMBH produce high velocity escapers at a rate of ≍ 0.1 Myr−1 and (iii) clusters hosting an IMBH together with high number of binaries form a denser halo of marginally unbound stars than clusters that lack either the IMBH or the binary population.

We present several results of the study of the evolution of globular clusters’ internal kinematics, as driven by two-body relaxation and the interplay between internal angular momentum and the external Galactic tidal field. Via a large suite of N-body simulations, we explored the three-dimensional velocity space of tidally perturbed clusters, by characterizing their degree of velocity dispersion anisotropy and their rotational properties. These studies have shown that a cluster’s kinematical properties contain distinct imprints of the cluster’s initial structural properties, dynamical history, and tidal environment. Building on this fundamental understanding, we then studied the dynamics of multiple stellar populations in globular clusters, with attention to the largely unexplored role of angular momentum.

As a result of the slow action of two-body encounters, globular clusters develop mass segregation and attain a condition of only partial energy equipartition even in their central, most relaxed regions. Realistic numerical simulations show that, during the process, a radially-biased anisotropy profile slowly builds up, mimicking that resulting from incomplete violent relaxation. Commonly used dynamical models, such as the one-component King models, cannot describe these properties. Here we show that simple two-component models based on a distribution function originally conceived to describe elliptical galaxies, recently truncated and adapted to the context of globular clusters, can describe in detail what is observed in complex and realistic numerical simulations.

We have done N-body simulations with N up to 106, with the aim to determine whether fluctuations in the force field of a globular cluster are caused by nearby or distant encounters. We find that distant encounters are insignificant, in agreement with Chandrasekhar’s expectations, contrary to general opinion.

We review the implications of the Gaia Data Release 2 catalogue for studying the dynamics of Milky Way globular clusters, focusing on two separate topics.

The first one is the analysis of the full 6-dimensional phase-space distribution of the entire population of Milky Way globular clusters: their mean proper motions (PM) can be measured with an exquisite precision (down to 0.05 mas yr−1, including systematic errors). Using these data, and a suitable ansatz for the steady-state distribution function (DF) of the cluster population, we then determine simultaneously the best-fit parameters of this DF and the total Milky Way potential. We also discuss possible correlated structures in the space of integrals of motion.

The second topic addresses the internal dynamics of a few dozen of the closest and richest globular clusters, again using the Gaia PM to measure the velocity dispersion and internal rotation, with a proper treatment of spatially correlated systematic errors. Clear rotation signatures are detected in 10 clusters, and a few more show weaker signatures at a level ∼0.05 mas yr−1. PM dispersion profiles can be reliably measured down to 0.1 mas yr−1, and agree well with the line-of-sight velocity dispersion profiles from the literature.

Variable stars are good stellar tracers. Among various variables, Miras have long periods and are at the evolutionary phase of asymptotic giant branch. Their low effective temperatures lead to a difficulty to determine their chemical composition that since plenty of molecular bands exist in their spectra which even blocks the identifition of metallic lines. However, molecular features are less common in near-infrared (NIR) compared with other wavelength ranges. Here we take advantage of the high-resolution (R ~ 28, 000) spectra obtained with WINERED, which is a NIR spectrograph covering the wavelength range of 0.91–1.35 μm, to analyze and determine the chemical abundances of three Miras in the Galactic globular cluster 47 Tuc (NGC 104). Steps of data reduction and analysis, as well as part of the preliminary results, are briefly shown.

Globular clusters are collisional systems, meaning that the stars inside them interact on timescales much shorter than the age of the Universe. These frequent interactions transfer energy between stars and set up observable trends that tell the story of a cluster’s evolution. This contribution focuses on what we can learn by studying velocity anisotropy and energy equipartition in globular clusters with Hubble Space Telescope proper motions.

Over a hundred millisecond radio pulsars (MSPs) have been observed in globular clusters (GCs), motivating theoretical studies of the formation and evolution of these sources through stellar evolution coupled to stellar dynamics. Here we study MSPs in GCs using realistic N-body simulations with our Cluster Monte Carlo code. We show that neutron stars (NSs) formed in electron-capture supernovae can be spun up through mass transfer to form MSPs. Both NS formation and spin-up through accretion are greatly enhanced through dynamical interaction processes. We find that our models for average GCs at the present day with masses ≍ 2 × 105M⊙ can produce up to 10 – 20 MSPs, while a very massive GC model with mass ≍ 106M⊙ can produce close to 100. We show that the number of MSPs is anti-correlated with the total number of stellar-mass black holes (BHs) retained in the host cluster. As a result, the number of MSPs in a GC could be used to place constraints on its BH population. Some intrinsic properties of MSP systems in our models (such as the magnetic fields and spin periods) are in good overall agreement with observations.