The effect of secular galactic growth on the evolution of star clusters

TL;DR

This study investigates how the gradual growth of galaxies via dark matter accretion influences star cluster evolution, finding minimal differences compared to static galactic halos over 12 billion years.

Contribution

It provides a combined fast exploration and detailed N-body simulations to assess the impact of galactic growth on star clusters, isolating this effect from other processes.

Findings

Star cluster properties are similar in growing and static halos over 12 Gyr.

Tidal tails of clusters show negligible differences due to galactic growth.

Galactic growth has limited impact on long-term star cluster evolution.

Abstract

The growth of galaxies through adiabatic accretion of dark matter is one of the main drivers of galaxy evolution. By isolating it from other processes like mergers, we analyse how it affects the evolution of star clusters. Our study comprises a fast and approximate exploration of the orbital and intrinsic cluster parameter space, and more detailed monitoring of their evolution, through N-body simulations for a handful of cases. We find that the properties of present-day star clusters and their tidal tails differ very little, whether the clusters are embedded in a growing galactic halo for 12 Gyr, or in a static one.