The Maxwell's demon of star clusters

Abstract

Stellar binaries are the most important energy reservoir of star clusters. Via three-body encounters, binaries can reverse the core collapse and prevent a star cluster from reaching equipartition. Moreover, binaries are essential for the formation of stellar exotica, such as blue straggler stars, intermediate-mass black holes and massive ($\gtrsim 30$ M${}_{\odot }$) black hole binaries.

arXiv comment17 pages, 8 figures, Submitted Manuscript Under Review: To appear in The Impact of Binaries on Stellar Evolution, Beccari G. & Boffin H.M.J. (Eds.).© 2018 Cambridge University Press