The life cycle of star cluster in a tidal field
Mark Gieles (1), Douglas C. Heggie (2), HongSheng Zhao (3) ((1), Cambridge, (2) Edinburgh, (3) St. Andrews)

TL;DR
This paper combines analytical models to describe the evolution of globular clusters in tidal fields, revealing two main phases and matching observed properties of Milky Way clusters.
Contribution
It introduces combined models of cluster evolution that account for expansion and evaporation phases, providing a framework to interpret observed cluster properties.
Findings
Approximately one-third of Milky Way globular clusters are in the evaporation-dominated phase.
Cluster density scales with galactocentric distance as rho_h ~ 1/R^2 in the evaporation phase.
Most clusters follow a density-mass relation rho_h ~ M^2, indicating a constant relaxation time-scale.
Abstract
The evolution of globular clusters due to 2-body relaxation results in an outward flow of energy and at some stage all clusters need a central energy source to sustain their evolution. Henon provided the insight that we do not need to know the details of the energy production in order to understand the relaxation-driven evolution of the cluster, at least outside the core. He provided two self-similar solutions for the evolution of clusters based on the view that the cluster as a whole determines the amount of energy that is produced in the core: steady expansion for isolated clusters, and homologous contraction for clusters evaporating in a tidal field. We combine these models: the half-mass radius increases during the first half of the evolution, and decreases in the second half; while the escape rate approaches a constant value set by the tidal field. We refer to these phases as…
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