Star Cluster Evolution in Dark Matter Dominated Galaxies

Abstract

We investigate the influence of the external tidal field of a dark matter halo on the dynamical evolution of star clusters using direct N-body simulations, where we assume that the halo is described by a Navarro, Frenk & White mass profile which has an inner density cusp. We assess how varying the mass and concentration of the halo affects the rate at which the star cluster loses mass and we find that increasing halo mass and concentration drives enhanced mass loss rates and in principle shorter cluster disruption timescales. In addition, we examine disruption timescales in a three-component model of a galaxy (bulge, disk and dark matter halo) and find good agreement with results based on an empirical model of the Galactic potential if we assume a halo mass of ~1e12 solar masses. In general, dark matter halos are expected to contribute significantly to the masses of galaxies and should not be ignored when modelling the evolution of star clusters. We extend our results to discuss how this can have a potentially profound effect on the disruption timescales of globular clusters, suggesting that we may underestimate the rate at which primordial globular clusters are disrupted.

8 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in New Astronomy

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Cited by in corpus (14)

• Modeling the formation and evolution of star cluster populations in galaxy simulations
• Formation versus destruction: the evolution of the star cluster population in galaxy mergers
• The Influence of Orbital Eccentricity on Tidal Radii of Star Clusters
• The Effect of Orbital Eccentricity on the Dynamical Evolution of Star Clusters
• The Size Scale of Star Clusters
• Evolution of star clusters in a cosmological tidal field
• The state of globular clusters at birth: emergence from the gas-embedded phase
• N-body Models of Extended Clusters
• A Possible Formation Scenario for Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxies I: Fiducial Model
• Evolution of Cluster of Stars in f(R) Gravity
• Magnetic diffusion driven shear instability of solar flux tubes
• Galactic orbital motions of star clusters: static versus semicosmological time-dependent Galactic potentials
• Nonlinear evolution of anisotropic matter configurations under higher-order curvature corrections
• The Sizes of Globular Clusters as Tracers of Galactic Halo Potentials