A systematic analysis of star cluster disruption by tidal shocks -- II. Predicting star cluster dissolution rates from a time-series analysis of their tidal histories

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Main Authors: Webb, Jeremy J., Reina-Campos, Marta, Kruijssen, J. M. Diederik
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Webb, Jeremy J.
Reina-Campos, Marta
Kruijssen, J. M. Diederik
author_facet Webb, Jeremy J.
Reina-Campos, Marta
Kruijssen, J. M. Diederik
contents Most of the dynamical mass loss from star clusters is thought to be caused by the time-variability of the tidal field (``tidal shocks''). Systematic studies of tidal shocks have been hampered by the fact that each tidal history is unique, implying both a reproducibility and a generalisation problem. Here we address these issues by investigating how star cluster evolution depends on the statistical properties of its tidal history. We run a large suite of direct N-body simulations of clusters with tidal histories generated from power spectra of a given slope and with different normalisations, which determine the time-scales and amplitudes of the shocks, respectively. At fixed normalisation (i.e. the same median tidal field strength), the dissolution time-scale is nearly independent of the power spectrum slope. However, the dispersion in dissolution time-scales, obtained by repeating simulations for different realisations of statistically identical tidal histories, increases with the power spectrum slope. This result means that clusters experiencing high-frequency shocks have more similar mass loss histories than clusters experiencing low-frequency shocks. The density-mass relationship of the simulated clusters follows a power-law with slope between 1.08 and 1.45, except for the lowest normalisations (for which clusters effectively evolve in a static tidal field). Our findings suggest that star cluster evolution can be described statistically from a time-series analysis of its tidal history, which is an important simplification for describing the evolution of the star cluster population during galaxy formation and evolution.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2410_16389
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle A systematic analysis of star cluster disruption by tidal shocks -- II. Predicting star cluster dissolution rates from a time-series analysis of their tidal histories
Webb, Jeremy J.
Reina-Campos, Marta
Kruijssen, J. M. Diederik
Astrophysics of Galaxies
Most of the dynamical mass loss from star clusters is thought to be caused by the time-variability of the tidal field (``tidal shocks''). Systematic studies of tidal shocks have been hampered by the fact that each tidal history is unique, implying both a reproducibility and a generalisation problem. Here we address these issues by investigating how star cluster evolution depends on the statistical properties of its tidal history. We run a large suite of direct N-body simulations of clusters with tidal histories generated from power spectra of a given slope and with different normalisations, which determine the time-scales and amplitudes of the shocks, respectively. At fixed normalisation (i.e. the same median tidal field strength), the dissolution time-scale is nearly independent of the power spectrum slope. However, the dispersion in dissolution time-scales, obtained by repeating simulations for different realisations of statistically identical tidal histories, increases with the power spectrum slope. This result means that clusters experiencing high-frequency shocks have more similar mass loss histories than clusters experiencing low-frequency shocks. The density-mass relationship of the simulated clusters follows a power-law with slope between 1.08 and 1.45, except for the lowest normalisations (for which clusters effectively evolve in a static tidal field). Our findings suggest that star cluster evolution can be described statistically from a time-series analysis of its tidal history, which is an important simplification for describing the evolution of the star cluster population during galaxy formation and evolution.
title A systematic analysis of star cluster disruption by tidal shocks -- II. Predicting star cluster dissolution rates from a time-series analysis of their tidal histories
topic Astrophysics of Galaxies
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2410.16389