Monte Carlo Simulations of Star Clusters - VI. The globular cluster NGC 6397

Abstract

We describe Monte Carlo models for the dynamical evolution of the nearby globular cluster NGC 6397. The code includes treatments of two-body relaxation, most kinds of three- and four-body interactions involving primordial binaries and those formed dynamically, the Galactic tide, and the internal evolution of both single and binary stars. We arrive at a set of initial parameters for the cluster which, after 12Gyr of evolution, gives a model with a fairly satisfactory match to the surface brightness profile, the velocity dispersion profile, and the luminosity function in two fields. We describe in particular those aspects of the evolution which distinguish this cluster from M4, which has a roughly similar mass and Galactocentric distance, but a qualitatively different surface brightness profile. Within the limitations of our modelling, we conclude that the most plausible explanation for the difference is fluctuations: both clusters are post-collapse objects, but sometimes have resolvable cores and sometimes not.

11 pages, 12 figures, MNRAS, in press; revised in response to referee report

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Cited by in corpus (13)

• N-body modeling of globular clusters: Masses, mass-to-light ratios and intermediate-mass black holes
• Towards an N-body Model for the Globular Cluster M4
• The Dynamical Effects of White Dwarf Birth Kicks in Globular Star Clusters
• The Detection Rates of Merging Binary Black Holes Originating from Star Clusters and Their Mass Function
• The Effects of Orbital Inclination on the Scale Size and Evolution of Tidally Filling Star Clusters
• A dynamical gravitational wave source in a dense cluster
• Matching Globular Cluster Models to Observations
• Multimass modelling of Milky Way globular clusters -- I. Implications on their stellar initial mass function above 1 M${}_{\odot }$
• The effect of primordial mass segregation on the size scale of globular clusters
• Far-Ultraviolet Observation of the Globular Cluster NGC 6397
• Testing multi-mass dynamical models of star clusters with real data: mass segregation in three Galactic globular clusters
• A Code to Make Your Own Synthetic ObservaTIonS (MYOSOTIS)
• Dynamical Processes in Globular Clusters