Nuclear Star Clusters

Abstract

The centers of most galaxies in the local universe are occupied by compact, barely resolved sources. Based on their structural properties, position in the fundamental plane, and integrated spectra, these sources clearly have a stellar origin. They are therefore called "nuclear star clusters" (NCs) or "stellar nuclei". NCs are found in galaxies of all Hubble types, suggesting that their formation is intricately linked to galaxy evolution. Here, I review some recent studies of NCs, describe ideas for their formation and subsequent growth, and touch on their possible evolutionary connection with both supermassive black holes and globular clusters.

invited talk at IAU Symp. 266 "Star Clusters: Galactic Building Blocks through Space and Time"

References in corpus (15)

• The ACS Virgo Cluster Survey. VIII. The Nuclei of Early-Type Galaxies
• Quantifying the Coexistence of Massive Black Holes and Dense Nuclear Star Clusters
• The Coincidence of Nuclear Star Clusters and Active Galactic Nuclei
• From Supermassive Black Holes to Dwarf Elliptical Nuclei: a Mass Continuum
• Formation and Evolution of Dwarf Elliptical Galaxies - II. Spatially resolved star-formation histories
• Molecular Gas Dynamics in NGC 6946: a Bar-driven Nuclear Starburst "Caught in the Act"
• Merging of globular clusters within inner galactic regions. II. The Nuclear Star Cluster formation
• Dynamical Constraints on The Masses of the Nuclear Star Cluster and Black Hole in the Late-Type Spiral Galaxy NGC 3621
• The Incidence of Active Galactic Nuclei in Pure Disk Galaxies: The Spitzer View
• An Accreting Black Hole in the Nuclear Star Cluster of the Bulgeless Galaxy NGC 1042
• Are Globular Clusters the Remnant Nuclei of Progenitor Disk Galaxies?
• Competitive feedback in galaxy formation
• Self-Regulated Fueling of Galaxy Centers: Evidence for Star-Formation Feedback in IC342's Nucleus
• Formation of central massive objects via tidal compression
• Caught in formation: the nuclear-cluster-to-be in NGC 2139

Cited by in corpus (16)

• The Galaxy in Context: Structural, Kinematic and Integrated Properties
• Surface Brightness Profile of the Milky Way's Nuclear Star Cluster
• Large scale kinematics and dynamical modelling of the Milky Way nuclear star cluster
• The Milky Way's nuclear star cluster: Old, metal-rich, and cuspy
• The distribution of old stars around the Milky Way's central black hole I: Star counts
• New insights on the formation of nuclear star clusters
• Evolution of second generation stars in stellar disks of globular and nuclear clusters: Omega Centauri as a test case
• Joint constraints on the Galactic dark matter halo and Galactic Centre from hypervelocity stars
• Core-Collapse Supernovae in Binaries as the Origin of Galactic Hyper-Runaway Stars
• Young, Massive Star Candidates Detected throughout the Nuclear Star Cluster of the Milky Way
• Constraints on the Galactic Centre environment from Gaia hypervelocity stars
• Probing the nuclear star cluster of galaxies with ELTs
• Comparing hypervelocity star populations from the Large Magellanic Cloud and the Milky Way
• Spectroscopically Identified Intermediate Age Stars at 0.5 - 3 pc Distance from Sgr A*
• The $M-\sigma$ relation between supermassive black holes and their host galaxies
• Formation of A Nuclear Star Cluster Through A Merger Event In The Low Surface Brightness Galaxy AGC 223218