Probing the role of dynamical friction in shaping the BSS radial distribution. I - Semi-analytical models and preliminary N-body simulations

Abstract

We present semi-analytical models and simplified $N$-body simulations with $10^4$ and $10^5$ particles aimed at probing the role of dynamical friction (DF) in determining the radial distribution of Blue Straggler Stars (BSSs) in globular clusters. The semi-analytical models show that DF (which is the only evolutionary mechanism at work) is responsible for the formation of a bimodal distribution with a dip progressively moving toward the external regions of the cluster. However, these models fail to reproduce the formation of the long-lived central peak observed in all dynamically evolved clusters. The results of $N$-body simulations confirm the formation of a sharp central peak, which remains as a stable feature over the time regardless of the initial concentration of the system. In spite of a noisy behavior, a bimodal distribution forms in many cases, with the size of the dip increasing as a function of time. In the most advanced stages the distribution becomes monotonic. These results are in agreement with the observations. Also the shape of the peak and the location of the minimum (which in most of the cases is within 10 core radii) turn out to be consistent with observational results. For a more detailed and close comparison with observations, including a proper calibration of the timescales of the dynamical processes driving the evolution of the BSS spatial distribution, more realistic simulations will be necessary.

arXiv commentAccepted for publication by ApJ; 11 pages, 11 figures

References in corpus (39)

• Internal Dynamics of Globular Clusters
• Formation of Massive Black Holes in Dense Star Clusters. I. Mass Segregation and Core Collapse
• Twenty-One Millisecond Pulsars in Terzan 5 Using the Green Bank Telescope
• Dynamical age differences among coeval star clusters as revealed by blue stragglers
• Two distinct sequences of blue straggler stars in the globular cluster M30
• Statistics of N-body Simulations I. Equal Masess Before Core Collapse
• A Binary Origin for Blue Stragglers in Globular Clusters
• Blue straggler production in globular clusters
• MOCCA code for star cluster simulations - I. Blue Stragglers, first results
• Dynamical Formation of Close Binaries in Globular Clusters II: Cataclysmic Variables
• Blue Straggler Stars: a direct comparison of Star counts and population ratios in six Galactic Globular Clusters
• Blue Straggler Stars: The Spectacular Population in M80
• Discovery of Carbon/Oxygen depleted Blue Straggler Stars in 47 Tucanae: the chemical signature of a mass-transfer formation process
• The contribution of primordial binaries to the blue straggler population in 47 Tucanae
• The radial distribution of blue straggler stars and the nature of their progenitors
• Double Blue Straggler sequences in GCs: the case of NGC 362
• The pure non-collisional Blue Straggler population in the giant stellar system omega Centauri
• Blue Stragglers, Young White Dwarfs and UV-excess stars in the core of 47 Tuc
• A comprehensive Nbody study of mass segregation in star clusters: Energy equipartition and escape
• Another Non-segregated Blue Straggler Population in a Globular Cluster: the Case of NGC 2419
• Low Mass X-Ray Binaries in Globular Clusters: A New Metallicity Effect
• A Panchromatic Study of the Globular Cluster NGC 1904. I: The Blue Straggler Population
• Stellar Collisions and Blue Straggler Stars in Dense Globular Clusters
• Blue Straggler masses from pulsation properties. I. The case of NGC6541
• A Correlation between Blue Straggler and Binary Fractions in the core of Galactic Globular Clusters
• Mass Segregation in Globular Clusters
• Blue straggler stars in dwarf spheroidal galaxies II: Sculptor and Fornax
• The surprising external upturn of the Blue Straggler radial distribution in M55
• A Spectroscopic Analysis of Blue Stragglers, Horizontal Branch and Turn-Off Stars in Four Globular Clusters
• Consequences of Dynamical Disruption and Mass Segregation for the Binary Frequencies of Star Clusters
• The ACS LCID project VII: the blue stragglers population in the isolated dSph galaxies Cetus and Tucana
• The non-segregated population of blue straggler stars in the remote globular cluster Palomar 14
• FLAMES and XSHOOTER spectroscopy along the two BSS sequences of M30
• The Unimodal Distribution Of Blue Straggler Stars in M75 (NGC 6864)
• Dynamical friction in multi-component evolving globular clusters
• Deep multi-telescope photometry of NGC 5466. I. Blue Stragglers and binary systems
• Blue straggler evolution caught in the act in the Large Magellanic Cloud globular cluster Hodge 11
• Mock Observations of Blue Stragglers in Globular Cluster Models
• UV observations of the globular cluster M10 from HST and GALEX. The BSS population

Cited by in corpus (17)

• Investigating mass segregation process in globular clusters with Blue Straggler Stars: the impact of dark remnants
• The Hubble Space Telescope UV Legacy Survey of Galactic Globular Clusters - XV. The dynamical clock: reading cluster dynamical evolution from the segregation level of blue straggler stars
• On the formation of compact, massive sub-systems in stellar clusters and its relation with intermediate mass black holes
• No evidence of mass segregation in the low mass Galactic globular cluster NGC 6101
• The "dynamical clock": dating the internal dynamical evolution of star clusters with Blue Straggler Stars
• Weighing stars: the identification of an Evolved Blue Straggler Star in the globular cluster 47 Tucanae
• Determination of dynamical ages of open clusters through the A${}^{+}$ parameter -- I
• Clustering clusters: unsupervised machine learning on globular cluster structural parameters
• Blue Straggler Bimodality: a Brownian Motion Model
• Blue straggler stars beyond the Milky Way: a non-segregated population in the Large Magellanic Cloud cluster NGC 2213
• Relativistic dynamical friction in stellar systems
• Introducing a new multi-particle collision method for the evolution of dense stellar systems. Crash-test N-body simulations
• A disturbance in the force. How force fluctuations hinder dynamical friction and induce core stalling
• Exotic populations in Globular Clusters: Blue Stragglers as tracers of the internal dynamical evolution of stellar systems
• Taking apart the dynamical clock. Fat-tailed dynamical kicks shape the blue-straggler star bimodality
• Further properties of the dynamical clock A+ indicator in a toy model of pure dynamical friction
• Analytical solutions for the dynamical clock A+ indicator in a toy model of pure dynamical friction