On the evolution of a star cluster and its multiple stellar systems following gas dispersal

TL;DR

This study models the post-gas dispersal evolution of star clusters, revealing their expansion, mass segregation dynamics, and the formation of wide binaries, which explains observed stellar populations.

Contribution

It provides new insights into cluster expansion, mass segregation timing, and the formation of wide binaries through dynamical evolution after gas dispersal.

Findings

Clusters expand from <0.05 pc to 1-2 pc over 4-10 Myr.

Mass segregation occurs early with rapid gas dispersal, later with longer timescales.

Wide binaries form in the expanding halo, explaining their prevalence in the field.

Abstract

We investigate the evolution, following gas dispersal, of a star cluster produced from a hydrodynamical calculation. We find that when the gas, initially comprising 60% of the mass, is removed, the system settles into a bound cluster containing 30-40% of the stellar mass surrounding by an expanding halo of ejected stars. The bound cluster expands from an initial radius of <0.05 pc to 1-2 pc over 4-10 Myr, depending on how quickly the gas is removed, implying that stellar clusters may begin with far higher stellar densities than usually assumed. With rapid gas dispersal the most massive stars are found to be mass segregated for the first ~1 Myr of evolution, but classical mass segregation only develops for cases with long gas removal timescales. Eventually, many of the most massive stars are expelled from the bound cluster. Despite the high initial stellar density and the extensive dynamical evolution of the system, we find that the stellar multiplicity is almost constant during the 10 Myr of evolution. This is because the primordial multiple systems are formed in a clustered environment and, thus, by their nature are already resistant to further evolution. The majority of multiple system evolution is confined to the decay of high-order systems and the formation of a significant population of very wide (10^4-10^5 AU) multiple systems in the expanding halo. This formation mechanism for wide binaries potentially solves the problem of how most stars apparently form in clusters and yet a substantial population of wide binaries exist in the field. Many of these wide binaries and the binaries produced by the decay of high-order multiple systems have unequal mass components, potentially solving the problem that hydrodynamical simulations of star formation are found to under-produce unequal-mass solar-type binaries.