Dynamics in Young Star Clusters: From Planets to Massive Stars

Abstract

The young star clusters we observe today are the building blocks of a new generation of stars and planets in our Galaxy and beyond. Despite their fundamental role we still lack knowledge about the conditions under which star clusters form and the impact of these often harsh environments on the evolution of their stellar and substellar members. We demonstrate the vital role numerical simulations play to uncover both key issues. Using dynamical models of different star cluster environments we show the variety of effects stellar interactions potentially have. Moreover, our significantly improved measure of mass segregation reveals that it can occur rapidly even for star clusters without substructure. This finding is a critical step to resolve the controversial debate on mass segregation in young star clusters and provides strong constraints on their initial conditions.

8 pages, 4 figures; to appear in the proceedings of "Stellar Clusters and Associations - A RIA workshop on Gaia", 23-27 May 2011, Granada, Spain