MOCCA code for star cluster simulations - VI. Bimodal spatial distribution of blue stragglers

Abstract

The paper presents an analysis of formation mechanism and properties of spatial distributions of blue stragglers in evolving globular clusters, based on numerical simulations done with the MOCCA code. First, there are presented N-body and MOCCA simulations which try to reproduce the simulations presented by Ferraro (2012). Then, the agreement between N-body and the MOCCA code is shown. Finally, we discuss the formation process of the bimodal distribution. We report that so-called bimodal spatial distribution of blue stragglers is a very transient feature. It is formed for one snapshot in time and it can easily vanish in the next one. Moreover, we show that the radius of avoidance proposed by Ferraro (2012) goes out of sync with the apparent minimum of the bimodal distribution after about two half-mass relaxation times. This finding creates a real challenge for the dynamical clock, which uses this radius to determine the dynamical age of globular clusters. Additionally, the paper discusses a few important problems concerning the apparent visibilities of the bimodal distributions which have to be taken into account while studying the spatial distributions of blue stragglers.

submitted to MNRAS, comments are welcome

References in corpus (9)

• Dynamical age differences among coeval star clusters as revealed by blue stragglers
• The radial distribution of blue straggler stars and the nature of their progenitors
• The surface density profile of NGC 6388: a good candidate for harboring an intermediate-mass black hole
• A Panchromatic Study of the Globular Cluster NGC 1904. I: The Blue Straggler Population
• Blue Straggler Stars in the Unusual Globular Cluster NGC 6388
• The Blue Straggler Population of the Globular Cluster M5
• A Correlation between Blue Straggler and Binary Fractions in the core of Galactic Globular Clusters
• Blue straggler stars in dwarf spheroidal galaxies
• The surprising external upturn of the Blue Straggler radial distribution in M55

Cited by in corpus (15)

• Modeling Dense Star Clusters in the Milky Way and Beyond with the $\text{CMC}$ Cluster Catalog
• 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
• MOCCA-SURVEY database I. Accreting white dwarf binary systems in globular clusters -- I. cataclysmic variables -- present-day population
• Small-N collisional dynamics III: The battle for the realm of not-so-small-N
• MOCCA-SURVEY database I. Accreting white dwarf binary systems in globular clusters -- II. Cataclysmic variables -- progenitors and population at birth
• Blue Stragglers and Friends: Initial Evolutionary Pathways in Close Low-Mass Binaries: Literature Review
• Small-N collisional dynamics IV: Order in the realm of not-so-small-N
• Investigating the Blue Straggler Stars radial distribution in globular clusters with Monte Carlo simulations
• A possible solution to the Milky Way's binary-deficient retrograde stellar population. Evidence that $\omega$ Centauri has formed in an extreme starburst
• The radial distribution of Blue stragglers in Galactic Globular Cluster NGC 6656 $-$ Clues on the dynamical status
• COCOA Code for Creating Mock Observations of Star Cluster Models
• Blue straggler stars beyond the Milky Way: a non-segregated population in the Large Magellanic Cloud cluster NGC 2213
• 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
• Taking apart the dynamical clock. Fat-tailed dynamical kicks shape the blue-straggler star bimodality