Star clusters as laboratories for stellar and dynamical evolution

TL;DR

Star clusters are complex systems that may contain multiple stellar populations, challenging the traditional view of them as simple stellar populations, and recent studies are shedding light on their chemical and dynamical evolution.

Contribution

The paper reviews recent observational and theoretical studies revealing multiple stellar populations and complex evolutionary processes in star clusters.

Findings

Star clusters can host multiple stellar populations.

Chemical enrichment processes influence cluster evolution.

Dynamical states are crucial for understanding stellar evolution.

Abstract

Open and globular star clusters have served as benchmarks for the study of stellar evolution due to their supposed nature as simple stellar populations of the same age and metallicity. After a brief review of some of the pioneering work that established the importance of imaging stars in these systems, we focus on several recent studies that have challenged our fundamental picture of star clusters. These new studies indicate that star clusters can very well harbour multiple stellar populations, possibly formed through self-enrichment processes from the first-generation stars that evolved through post-main-sequence evolutionary phases. Correctly interpreting stellar evolution in such systems is tied to our understanding of both chemical-enrichment mechanisms, including stellar mass loss along the giant branches, and the dynamical state of the cluster. We illustrate recent imaging, spectroscopic and theoretical studies that have begun to shed new light on the evolutionary processes that occur within star clusters.