Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2006-02-21
Mon.Not.Roy.Astron.Soc.Lett. 369 (2006) L9-L13
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
6 pages, 3 figures, MNRAS letters, accepted
Scientific paper
10.1111/j.1745-3933.2006.00162.x
We present detailed luminosity profiles of the young massive clusters M82-F, NGC 1569-A, and NGC 1705-1 which show significant departures from equilibrium (King and EFF) profiles. We compare these profiles with those from N-body simulations of clusters which have undergone the rapid removal of a significant fraction of their mass due to gas expulsion. We show that the observations and simulations agree very well with each other suggesting that these young clusters are undergoing violent relaxation and are also losing a significant fraction of their stellar mass. That these clusters are not in equilibrium can explain the discrepant mass-to-light ratios observed in many young clusters with respect to simple stellar population models without resorting to non-standard initial stellar mass functions as claimed for M82-F and NGC 1705-1. We also discuss the effect of rapid gas removal on the complete disruption of a large fraction of young massive clusters (``infant mortality''). Finally we note that even bound clusters may lose >50% of their initial stellar mass due to rapid gas loss (``infant weight-loss'').
Bastian Nate
Goodwin Simon P.
No associations
LandOfFree
Evidence for the Strong Effect of Gas Removal on the Internal Dynamics of Young Stellar Clusters does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.
If you have personal experience with Evidence for the Strong Effect of Gas Removal on the Internal Dynamics of Young Stellar Clusters, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Evidence for the Strong Effect of Gas Removal on the Internal Dynamics of Young Stellar Clusters will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-453646