Recurrent gas accretion by massive star clusters, multiple stellar populations and mass thresholds for spherical stellar systems

TL;DR

This paper investigates how massive star clusters can recurrently accrete gas from their environment, leading to multiple stellar populations, and identifies mass thresholds influencing galaxy morphology and gas retention.

Contribution

It introduces analytical criteria for gas accretion by stellar systems and links these thresholds to galaxy morphological transitions.

Findings

Massive star clusters (>=10^6 M_sun) can recurrently accrete gas from the interstellar medium.

Analytical criteria determine whether spherical stellar systems can retain warm or hot gas.

Mass thresholds align with transition points between different galaxy types.

Abstract

We explore the gravitational influence of pressure supported stellar systems on the internal density distribution of a gaseous environment. We conclude that compact massive star clusters with masses >= 10^6 M_sun act as cloud condensation nuclei and are able to accrete gas recurrently from a warm interstellar medium which may cause further star formation events and account for multiple stellar populations in the most massive globular and nuclear star clusters. The same analytical arguments can be used to decide whether an arbitrary spherical stellar system is able to keep warm or hot interstellar material or not. These mass thresholds coincide with transition masses between pressure supported galaxies of different morphological types.