What cluster gas expulsion can tell us about star formation, cluster environment and galaxy evolution

Abstract

Violent relaxation -- the protocluster dynamical response to the expulsion of its leftover star forming gas -- is a short albeit crucial episode in the evolution of star clusters and star cluster systems. In this contribution, I survey how it influences the cluster age distribution, the cluster mass function and the ratio between the cluster mass and the stellar mass. I highlight the promising potential that the study of this phase holds in terms of deciphering star cluster formation and galaxy evolution, and (some of) the issues which are to be dealt with before achieving this goal.

Highlight Talk at JENAM2008 Symposium "Star Clusters - Witnesses of Cosmic History"; to appear in "Reviews in Modern Astronomy" of the Astronomische Gesellschaft, S.Roeser (ed), vol.21, Wiley-VCH, in press (15 pages, 5 figs)

References in corpus (4)

• The mass function of young star clusters in spiral galaxies
• The Generation and Dissipation of Interstellar Turbulence - Results from Large Scale High Resolution Simulations
• Search for OB stars running away from young star clusters. I. NGC 6611
• When efficient star formation drives cluster formation

Cited by in corpus (4)

• Ages and Luminosities of Young SMC/LMC Star Clusters and the recent Star Formation History of the Clouds
• Globular Cluster Systems in Nearby Dwarf Galaxies: III. Formation Efficiencies of Old Globular Clusters
• Formation of stars and clusters over cosmological time
• Early dynamical evolution of star cluster systems