WP3 N-body Projects

At Sheffield we are putting effort into modeling the pure N-body evolution of usually smallish (100s to 1000s of stars) young clusters. We use the kira integrator in starlab and also have access to GRAPE-6A hardware for large simulations.

Current main projects are:

The evolution of clumpy (fractal) clusters - what happens if the initial conditions are not smooth and relaxed? At the moment this involves fairly abstract clusters to understand the detailed dynamics, and attempting to model real clumpy clusters like Taurus (with Grenoble). It looks like cold, clumpy clusters violently relax and do all sorts of odd things (dynamical mass segregation and core collapse in a crossing time).

The destruction and modification of multiple systems in clusters - how does cluster evolution change the primordial multiple properties? How are VLMO binaries affected (with Cardiff)? Where do very wide binaries come from? How does dynamical evolution affect the VLMO dynamics (with Cardiff)?

Cluster destruction - how rapid is infant mortality? Is it driven by feedback (gas expulsion), or internal dynamics (core collapse)? What do clusters look like when they are dispersing?

The evolution of massive cluster complexes - what happens to clusters in many-pc cluster complexes? Do they merge?

We're more than happy to help model real clusters you have observed...