Journal article
Massive star cluster formation: III. Early mass segregation during cluster assembly
Astronomy and astrophysics (Berlin), v 695, pA188
Mar 2025
Abstract
Mass segregation is seen in many star clusters, but whether massive stars form in the center of a cluster or migrate there dynamically is still debated. N -body simulations show that early dynamical mass segregation is possible when sub-clusters merge to form a dense core with a small crossing time. However, the effect of gas dynamics on both the formation and dynamics of the stars could inhibit the formation of the dense core. We aim to study the dynamical mass segregation of star cluster models that include gas dynamics and selfconsistently form stars from the dense substructure in the gas. Our models use the TORCH framework, which is based on AMUSE and includes stellar and magnetized gas dynamics, as well as stellar evolution and feedback from radiation, stellar winds, and supernovae. Our models consist of three star clusters forming from initial turbulent spherical clouds of mass 10 4 , 10 5 , 10 6 M ⊙ and radius 11.7 pc that have final stellar masses of 3.6 × 10 3 M ⊙ , 6.5 × 10 4 M ⊙ , and 8.9 × 10 5 M ⊙ , respectively. There is no primordial mass segregation in the model by construction. All three clusters become dynamically mass segregated at early times via collapse confirming that this mechanism occurs within sub-clusters forming directly out of the dense substructure in the gas. The dynamics of the embedded gas and stellar feedback do not inhibit the collapse of the cluster. We find that each model cluster becomes mass segregated within 2 Myr of the onset of star formation, reaching the levels observed in young clusters in the Milky Way. However, we note that the exact values are highly time-variable during these early phases of evolution. Massive stars that segregate to the center during core collapse are likely to be dynamically ejected, a process that can decrease the overall level of mass segregation again.
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Details
- Title
- Massive star cluster formation
- Creators
- Brooke PolakMordecai-Mark Mac LowRalf S. KlessenSimon Portegies ZwartEric P. AnderssonSabrina M. AppelClaude Cournoyer-CloutierSimon C. O. GloverStephen L. W. McMillan
- Publication Details
- Astronomy and astrophysics (Berlin), v 695, pA188
- Publisher
- eop Sciences
- Number of pages
- 9
- Grant note
- International Max Planck Research School for Astronomy and Cosmic Physics at the University of Heidelberg (IMPRS-HD)NSF: AST18-15461, AST2307950, AST20-09679 NASA: 80NSSC24K0935 Canada Graduate Scholarship - Doctoral (CGS D) from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC)Advanced Cyber infrastructure Coordination Ecosystem: Services & Support (ACCESS) program: PHY220160 National Science Foundation: 21-38259, 21-38286, 21-38307, 21-37603, 21-38296 Snellius through the Dutch National Supercomputing Center SURF: 15220, 2023/ENW/01498863 NSF Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellowship - National Science Foundation: AST24-01740 European Research Council via the ERC Synergy: 855130 Heidelberg Cluster of Excellence: EXC 2181 - 390900948 German Science Foundation (DFG)Interstellar Institute's program "II6"German Excellence StrategyParis-Saclay University's Institut Pascal: 50002206 German Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action in project "MAINN"
We thank the referee for their useful comments and insights, one of which led to the addition of Appendix A. B.P. was partly supported by a fellowship from the International Max Planck Research School for Astronomy and Cosmic Physics at the University of Heidelberg (IMPRS-HD). M.-M.M.L., B.P., and E.A. were partly supported by NSF grants AST18-15461 and AST2307950. E.A. and M.-M.M.L. also acknowledge partial support from NASA grant 80NSSC24K0935. C.C.-C. is supported by a Canada Graduate Scholarship - Doctoral (CGS D) from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC). This work used Stampede 2 at TACC through allocation PHY220160 from the Advanced Cyberinfrastructure Coordination Ecosystem: Services & Support (ACCESS) program, which is supported by National Science Foundation grants 21-38259, 21-38286, 21-38307, 21-37603, and 21-38296. The code development that facilitated this study was done on Snellius through the Dutch National Supercomputing Center SURF grants 15220 and 2023/ENW/01498863. S.M.A. is supported by an NSF Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellowship, which is funded by the National Science Foundation under Award No. AST24-01740; S.M.A. also acknowledges support from NSF Award No. AST20-09679. R.S.K. and S.C.O.G. acknowledge financial support from the European Research Council via the ERC Synergy Grant "ECOGAL" (project ID 855130), from the Heidelberg Cluster of Excellence (EXC 2181 - 390900948) "STRUCTURES", funded by the German Excellence Strategy, and from the German Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action in project "MAINN" (funding ID 50002206). The team in Heidelberg also thanks The Laend and the German Science Foundation (DFG) for computing resources provided in bwHPC supported by grant INST 35/1134-1 FUGG and for data storage at SDS @ hd supported by grant INST 35/1314-1 FUGG. M.-M.M.L. acknowledges Interstellar Institute's program "II6" and the Paris-Saclay University's Institut Pascal for hosting discussions that nourished the development of the ideas behind this work.
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Physics
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:001447116500005
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-105000310807
- Other Identifier
- 991022041490904721
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- Domestic collaboration
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- Astronomy & Astrophysics