Roche volume filling and the dissolution of open star clusters

TL;DR

This study uses N-body simulations to explore how the Roche volume filling factor influences star cluster dissolution, revealing different mechanisms and scaling behaviors in underfilling and overfilling regimes.

Contribution

The paper introduces a comprehensive parameter study distinguishing between two dissolution mechanisms and identifies a resonance condition affecting star cluster evolution.

Findings

Overfilling clusters dissolve mainly through changing potential, not two-body relaxation.

Dissolution time scales decrease with increasing Roche filling factor.

A resonance condition may influence cluster evolution and stability.

Abstract

From direct N-body simulations we find that the dynamical evolution of star clusters is strongly influenced by the Roche volume filling factor. We present a parameter study of the dissolution of open star clusters with different Roche volume filling factors and different particle numbers. We study both Roche volume underfilling and overfilling models and compare with the Roche volume filling case. We find that in the Roche volume overfilling limit of our simulations two-body relaxation is no longer the dominant dissolution mechanism but the changing cluster potential. We call this mechnism "mass-loss driven dissolution" in contrast to "two-body relaxation driven dissolution" which occurs in the Roche volume underfilling regime. We have measured scaling exponents of the dissolution time with the two-body relaxation time. In this experimental study we find a decreasing scaling exponent with increasing Roche volume filling factor. The evolution of the escaper number in the Roche volume overfilling limit can be described by a log-logistic differential equation. We report the finding of a resonance condition which may play a role for the evolution of star clusters and may be calibrated by the main periodic orbit in the large island of retrograde quasiperiodic orbits in the Poincar\'e surfaces of section. We also report on the existence of a stability curve which may be of relevance with respect to the structure of star clusters.